Aqu-Thermoplastics: Recycling Plastics with Water

Abstract

Recycling of real waste plastics with diverse composition is extremely difficult. Herein, an eco-friendly and easy-to-operate strategy is demonstrated to facilitate the recycling of plastic composites and mixtures by using only water. An aqu-thermoplastic bioplastic (CPp-TA) is constructed with switchable water solubility and excellent thermoplastic property from natural cellulose. CPp-TA consisted of the cellulose main chain (C) and two functional groups, internal-plasticizing group (Pp) and switchable group (TA). It not only has outstanding thermo-plastic formability, water resistance, and mechanical property to satisfy the daily needs, but also can be easily recycled with water by switching to the water-soluble state. CPp-TA can processed into various high-performance plastic parts, fibers, heat-sealing packaging, transparent cups, paper-plastic composites, and aluminum-plastic composites by conventional thermoplastic processing methods. The obtained CPp-TA/Al/paper composite exhibits better barrier performance than the famous Tetra Pak with a complex recycling process, and can be easily separated into CPp-TA, Al foil, and paper by using basic aqueous solution to trigger the water solubility of CPp-TA. Similarly, CPp-TA can be effectively separated from plastic mixtures. The recovery yield achieves to 100%. The revolutionary aqu-thermoplastic materials and water-recycling strategy markedly reduce the recycling difficulty of intricate plastics and promote the sustainable development.