What to do About Plastics ?

[tball]

Hi, 

I teach a project based learning class in the undergraduate Sustainability Studies Minor at UCSC and I am part of an interdisciplinary faculty research group that includes some industry folk. We are thinking about bio-plastics, PLA in particular, and also what to do about recycling petro-plastics.   Lately we have become interested in the topic of the plasticizers that are used in both plant-based and petroleum-based plastics. 

One of our industry contacts recently made this DOE RFP known to us... and from what I understand about legislation on the horizon the single-use plastics industry is finally seeing the forthcoming legislative writing on the wall and so running to figure out what to do about it. ( here's the link again if you need to paste it into a browser https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/default.aspx#FoaId8b941be9-94c4-4959-bfc2-0c7b6cec9794)

We have chemistry, computer science engineering and bioengineering ( and possibly digital arts to help with 3-D printing and additive manufacturing) faculty members working on this but are looking for someone in legal studies / politics to join. 

Please reply here or contact me Tamara Ball at tb...@ucsc.edu if you want to discuss further. 

Scroll down after you click on the link or search for BOTTLE to read the announcement in the EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange for 

DE-FOA-0002245: JOINT FY20 BIOENERGY AND ADVANCED MANUFACTURING FOA BOTTLE: BIO-OPTIMIZED TECHNOLOGIES TO KEEP THERMOPLASTICS OUT OF LANDFILLS AND THE ENVIRONMENT