Plastics

Reinventing plastic recycling

Challenges and Objectives

Towards sustainable circularity in the face of multiple challenges

The use of plastic materials, or polymers, has increased significantly since the 1950s. Due to their diverse performance characteristics, they have gradually replaced traditional materials such as metals, glass, and wood in many applications, including electrical and electronic equipment. However, these materials now face regulatory (e.g., AGEC law), environmental (end-of-life fate), and health-related (additive toxicity) challenges. It is therefore essential to improve their circularity and sustainability across the entire value chain.

Findings / Key observations

The world is overwhelmed by plastic waste.

Un gisement de plastique en France et une intégration de matières plastiques recyclées minime dans les équipements électriques et électroniques.

315 000

tons of plastics in France

17%

of plastic materials contained in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

the share of recycled plastic used in the manufacturing of new electrical and electronic equipment.

Our objectives

Improve the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Improve the circularity of plastics.

To address environmental challenges, it is necessary to improve the circularity of plastics, meaning their ability to be reused, recycled, and reintegrated into new products. This involves not only optimizing existing recycling methods but also developing new approaches, such as reusing plastics in new products, based on a 5R strategy (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Repair).

Optimize plastic management

It is important to better adapt product design to their end-of-life, taking into account their recyclability as well as their environmental and health impacts. The goal is to design products from the outset so that they are easier to recycle or reuse, thereby reducing their ecological footprint.

Adopt a circular economy approach

The Urban Mines Chair aims to broaden its vision beyond the optimization of sorting and recycling technologies to adopt a circular economy approach. It seeks to promote: product design that considers from the outset their second life cycle (recycling, reuse); improved quality of recycled plastics so they can be better reintegrated into production; and the development of the circular economy by facilitating access to resources to improve plastic reuse and recycling processes.

Our work

Some projects of the Chair

Jiadong Liu, student at Université Savoie Mont Blanc

Development of environmental assessment methods for chemical recycling processes within the Urban Mines Chair.

Nicolas Nève, PhD student at ENSAM

Proposal of an eco-design approach for electrical and electronic equipment, focused on integrating recycled plastics (RPP) derived from WEEE.

Xavier Mackré

Nanostructuring of PC/ABS blends applied to the recycling of polymers from WEEE.

Our stakeholders

The LCPI branch in Chambéry

This laboratory is a key player in the fields of recycling and eco-design, having contributed to numerous national and European projects in collaboration with various industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, plastics processing, and recycling.

His/her work and expertise

🍃 Eco-design

The laboratory works on developing eco-design methods and tools to reduce the environmental impact of products. This includes impacts across all stages of the product life cycle: manufacturing, use, and end-of-life.

🚮 Material recycling

They develop innovative processes for the sorting and recycling of materials, with a particular focus on plastics from end-of-life products. The goal is to make these materials easier to recycle and reuse.

🌍️ Environmental performance assessment

The laboratory conducts Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of products or processes, in order to identify possible improvements.

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