Stephen Crawford on plastic recycling
From Eastman is Creating a More Circular Economy | EARTH with John Holden · · Eastman
“We will basically take back any waste plastics and pull them out of the environment and rebuild them back up into useful materials by harnessing the power of chemistry — we can break them back down into molecules that we can then rebuild into new materials we sell on the market.”
On , Stephen Crawford, EVP - Technology Projects at Eastman Chemical Co, spoke about plastic recycling during Eastman is Creating a More Circular Economy | EARTH with John Holden on Eastman.
About Stephen Crawford
In a 2019 appearance on the program "EARTH with John Holden," Stephen Crawford discussed Eastman Chemical's efforts to address plastic waste through recycling technologies. Crawford stated that the company aims to "take back any waste plastics and pull them out of the environment and rebuild them back up into useful materials" by breaking them down into molecules. He described a methanolysis process that can use polyester-based feedstocks to create products without the limitations of degradation associated with mechanical recycling. Crawford also commented on the growing demand for sustainable products, saying that sustainability has shifted from "a nice to have" to "a requirement" driven by consumers, brands, and customers. He expressed excitement about repurposing innovation to "give new life to old things" and suggested that solving the global plastic waste problem may require "going back to the basics and starting again at the molecular level."