A Review of Additive Usage in Polymer Manufacturing: Phenolic Antioxidants

As the world comes together to address plastic waste and pollution, and the March 2, 2022, United Nations Resolution 5/14 to End Plastic Pollution with a Legally Binding Instrument by 2024, many strategies are being considered for how to best address this immense problem. One of the most significant arguments is the simplification of the additives and polymer universe. As time has gone on plastics have gotten much more variable so even within the main 7 types of plastic, there are thousands of different formulations for plastics. This variability can make post-consumer plastic relatively unusable. With the simplification of these additives and formulations, recovery methods could become much more effective with a much more valuable end product. As such, simplifying the plastic universe could make for an effective strategy for creating a more circular lifespan of these plastics. Based on these foundations, this presentation will be focusing on the additive class of phenolic antioxidants and the similarities identified within. It identifies different possible methods to take moving forward that take into consideration the regulatory aspect as well as the chemistry to limit variability and additives that are problematic (persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity) while still maximizing the function of the polymer.