Is Recycling a Viable Solution to Reduce Consumption of New Plastic and Dependence on Fossil Fuels?

Abstract

The research topic will focus on answering if recycling is an effective solution to shorten the use of virgin plastics and reliance of fossil fuels as raw materials of plastics. In this research, the views from different perspectives will be discussed by reviewing representative previous research on this topic and doing observation experiments. Plastic recycling situations in different countries, advantages brought by advanced recycling techniques, and correlation and causality between recycling plastic and reducing consumption of new plastic and dependence on fossil fuels will be summarized in the step of reviewing the previous research. The research question will be answered by combining the summary of the previous research and result of the observation experiment.

Biographies

Qianhui Weng is currently first year student of University of British Columbia in science. She is keenly concerned with the global warming issues, and expects to enter major of environmental science.

Quanwei Chen is a first-year student in Vantage Science Program in University of British Columbia. After class, she pays close attention to environmental problems happening on earth, which leads to her interest in research on Plastics Recycling.