Skip to main content

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
Home

Main navigation

Search is currently disabled
  • Academics
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Landscape Architecture
    • Doctoral (PhD)
    • Dual-Degree Programs
    • Graduate Certificate Programs
    • Undergraduate Program
    • Courses
  • Research + Impact
    • Sustainability Themes
    • PhD Profiles
    • Student Research
    • The Centers, Institutes + Initiatives
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Labs
  • Admissions
    • Exploring Graduate School
    • Why Michigan?
    • How to Apply
    • Funding
    • Online Games
    • Visit Campus
    • International Students
    • For Admitted Students
    • Admissions FAQs
    • Rackham Graduate School Resources
  • Student Services
    • SEAS Student Center
    • Career Services
    • Financial Aid
    • Academic Advising
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Development
    • Forms, Handbooks + Policies
    • Quick Links
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
    • Co-Sponsorship Form
    • Submit Event
    • Admissions Webinars
    • Gallery
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Demographics
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Administrative Departments + Staff
    • Facilities + Locations
    • Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
    • Art & Environment Gallery
    • Land Acknowledgement
    • History

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
search icon Search

News

Image
Conservation Ecology
  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Admissions
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About

Main navigation

  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Admissions
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About
back to all news

SEAS Professor Greg Keoleian Offers Congressional Testimony on Plastic Waste Reduction

Image
SEAS Professor Greg Keoleian Offers Congressional Testimony on Plastic Waste Reduction
By Haley Riley (MS '22) | 
June 28, 2021

School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Professor Gregory Keoleian was called to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Research and Technology on June 24 for a hearing on “Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research: Moving from Staggering Statistics to Sustainable Solutions.” This subcommittee is led by Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), who introduced a bipartisan bill, Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act, with her colleague Rep. Anthony Gonzales (OH-16). 

Keoleian’s research through U-M's Center for Sustainable Systems focuses on the development and application of life cycle models and sustainability metrics to guide the design and improvement of products and technology.

During his testimony, Keoleian noted that the plastics waste crisis is more than a packaging waste problem, and that multiple technical and economic barriers limit plastics material recovery. He highlighted that less than 8 percent of the plastic from packaging, consumer products, furniture, electronics, transportation, and buildings is recycled due primarily to inexpensive virgin feedstocks combined with quality issues in recovering plastics from retired products. 

Keoleian added that systems analysis tools are necessary to overcome these challenges, and outlined six recommendations:

  1. Research is needed to fill in data gaps in plastics material flows and expand key life cycle inventory databases.
  2. Life cycle analysis and circular economy models are needed to guide plastics waste innovations and develop robust cost-effective solutions.
  3. Emphasis should be placed on interdisciplinary Research and Development (R&D) to develop plastic waste solutions.
  4. R&D should also target product system design solutions beyond recycling.
  5. A road map to guide R&D coordination across agencies should be developed.
  6. Plastic waste reduction solutions should also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Keoleian ended his remarks by stating that “the plastics waste crisis is worsening, and federally funded R&D is needed to develop robust and sustainable solutions. Solutions to the plastics waste crisis will require a major transformation of systems through technology, community engagement, behavior change, and policy interventions. Technological innovations alone will not be sufficient.”

A recording of the entire hearing can be found here.

Greg Keoleian

seas logo
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Dana Building
440 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-6453
Email us
facebook
twitter
instagram
linkedin
youtube
flickr
planet blue global impact logo

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Intranet
  • Contact Web Team

© 2023 The Regents of the University of Michigan | Privacy Policy | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Produced by Michigan Creative