What do plastic waste experts or consultants do? Almost everything is either made from plastic or wrapped in plastic. In fact, plastic is one of the most widely used, durable, and cheapest materials in the world. As an example, we currently use around 5 trillion plastic bags a year worldwide! The problem with most plastics is that they are not biodegradable. It doesn’t rot, like paper or food, so instead it can hang around in the environment for hundreds or thousands of years. Each year, 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced and 40% of that is for single use. In other words, we’ll only use it once before it’s thrown away. The US alone throws away enough plastic bottles in a week to encircle the world 5 times. Plastic pollution involves the accumulation of these plastic products in the environment in ways that adversely affect humans and wildlife. Plastics that pollute are categorized into micro-, meso-, or macro debris, based on size.
While recycling continues to gain momentum, sadly only a small part of all plastics are actually recycled. Much of the rest ends up in landfills and in the oceans. As we realize the ever-increasing threat plastics play in our environment, plastic waste experts are trained to assist in resolving these problems and assisting in converting the otherwise polluting debris into something useful by such technologies as pyrolysis. Plastic waste experts encompass many different types of expertise, often chemistry, biology, or other life sciences. Experts are those that have a background, education, and experience in their area of expertise. Each will have a good working knowledge of the technological developments in the areas, and the ability to assist in project planning and development.
Large renewable energy and biochemical consulting firms will certainly have experts in more common areas like biofuels, biomaterials, biomass, biomass power, biomaterials, bio-based chemicals, biotechnologies, and renewable fuels and chemicals in general. Energy consultants should be willing to discuss client’s initial questions about renewable energy sources, the types of biofuels, biofuel companies, synthetic biology, the fermentation process, biomass renewable energy, biofuel energy, conversion technologies for things like tires and railroad ties, and about the circular economy in general. These clean energy experts would optimally be part of a larger, multidisciplinary group of green energy consultants with a wide variety of expertise in more specialized areas like biomass production, financial due diligence, organic synthesis, fuel additives, ethanol gas, biodiesel fuel including algae biofuels, solid-state and industrial fermentation, green energy grants, ag-biotech, agricultural waste, alcohol fuels, alternative proteins and animal-free products, sustainable foods, beverage fermentation, , biocatalysis, biodiesel conversion, biogas production, biomass power, carbon intensity, CO2 utilization, combined heat & power, Fischer-Tropsch technology, food waste, hydrothermal carbonization, industrial enzymes, landfill management, microbial fermentation, organic synthesis, plastic pyrolysis, plastic recycling, plastic waste, pyrolysis oil, reactor design, renewable identification number, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), solid recovered fuels, torrefaction and torrified biomass, waste to energy, and waste-to-hydrogen. Finally, members and strategic partners of these green energy consulting firms should also have the availability to do things like engineering, technical feasibility studies, and techno-economic analysis, due diligence, and feasibility studies, and provide expert witness testimony, and should have the contacts to assist with renewable energy finance, accounting, plant safety and insurance, legal, and virtually any other services related to the bioeconomy.
With over 150 consultants worldwide, Lee Enterprises Consulting has the diverse experts and geographical reach to assist in virtually any bioeconomy project. Our highly qualified teams bring a unique integration of technical, scientific, regulatory, and hands-on experience to any project. Look at our experts and the services we provide. Most of our experts are also available to advise and serve as expert witnesses in bioeconomy litigation matters. For the larger projects, we specialize in putting together full-service, interdisciplinary teams with one point of contact. See a video about LEC here. Call us at 1+ (501) 833-8511 or email us for more information.
See Biomass & Plastic Waste Recycling and Plastic Waste Recycling.