Thermoplastics are inherently reprocessable, but their recycling often hinges on the introduction of financial or regulatory incentives.
Thermoset plastics face a fundamental chemical hurdle: their cross-linked molecular networks prevent them from being remelted, reshaped, or easily reprocessed.
Thermosets account 20% of plastics produced annually, and contribute 65 metric tonnes to landfills on a yearly basis.
With applications in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, and structural materials industries, these materials are fundamentally non-recyclable, and non-separable from expensive, difficult to source materials.
Demands for thermoset materials continue to rise, as do demands for raw materials embedded into landfilled composite thermoset systems.