Make more plastic recyclable

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About the research

Recycling plastic is kind of like eating spaghetti. With this analogy Christian Taplan (Universiteit Gent) introduces us into the world of plastic recycling. Did you know that -in principle- lots of plastics are recyclable, except from the kind of plastics you find in tires or the 'plastic' foam you find in your sofa or mattress? Christian is working on a new and very promising type of plastic materials, called ‘vitrimers’, to stuff our sofas and mattresses. These could be recycled and used over and over again, while maintaining the same material properties. Say spaghetti-i-i-i!

Sustainability
Christian Taplan
FWO - UGent

Fascinated by science, a passion for plastics, environmental responsibility, and the motivation to understand things in our everyday life on a molecular level are some of Christian Taplan’s characteristics, which encouraged him to graduate with his master’s degree in chemistry from TU Dresden. Those and his belief that diversity is strongly connected to creativity, led him from exploring various interdisciplinary fields both in research facilities and industry to, now, focusing with his PhD in the PCR group at Ghent University, on a new and very promising type of plastic materials: ‘Vitrimers’.

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