Week schedule (.pdf)

Tentative program:

Virtual part:

• theoretical preparation to in-person week (introductory reading on polymer synthesis, properties and processing techniques)
• international team work on defined topics under supervision of BIP lecturers and doctoral students

In-person international week (Wroclaw Tech, Poland):

• Day 1: general introduction to the BIP program, polymer synthesis and plastics preparation, polymer additives
• Day 2: polymers recycling (methods, problem with additives)
• Day 3: heteropolymers, bio-based materials and biopolymers
• Day 4: today’s challenges (*presentations session)
• Day 5: sustainability assessments and policy

Virtual part and evaluation:

• hand-in of written report, presentations of the assignments

Assignments and evaluation

The students will make an assignment in international groups with three main targets: (1) get familiar with real plastic waste objects or ideas/techniques used for management of their life cycle and use this for reflection on the course,

(2) make an international comparison,

(3) integrate the learnings of the course lectures into practical examples.

In the assignments the students collect their own waste or industrial samples, and characterize them on a material level basis (e.g. which polymers are used), using statistics to compare their datasets or investigate some further processing technologies used to improve their life cycle. They put this into the perspective of national statistics on post-consumer plastic waste. Furthermore, they investigate how the plastic waste is currently treated in their respective countries, and finally they describe what the future evolutions are.

All instructors of organizing partners are expected to participate in the (1) supervision of the groups and (2) evaluation of the final papers and presentations in May 2024.