In <i>21 Lessons for the 21st Century</i>, Yuval Noah Harari makes the point that the unintended consequences of too many breakthrough technologies threaten our future: Facebook set out to bring people together but grew to foster divisiveness; Juul intended to end smoking but triggered addiction to vaping; encrypted messaging designed to protect privacy enabled an underworld to thrive. He argues that liberalism has no answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and technological disruption. The proliferation of plastics and the lack of chemical circularity is the posterchild for this perspective. Recent advances in additive manufacturing technologies demonstrate how the industry is poised to make the jump from a “prototyping only” $8 billion industry to replace injection molding techniques—a $330 billion industry. As the initial stages of this major technology transition come into focus, we are at a unique moment in time to put polymer additive manufacturing on a sustainable trajectory. This talk will describe needs and opportunities for recyclable and upcyclable polymers in the context of this major transition, ultimately toward achieving a circular economy.

Getting in front of the additive manufacturing revolution: Sustainability needs and opportunities

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.