10097443Predicting Polymer Dissolution for Advanced Recycling of PlasticsClosedInvestment AcceleratorInnovate UKThe plastics industry is under tremendous pressure. Plastics account for 9% of EU GHGe, and UK plastic packaging generates 2.5Mt of waste annually. Only half (1.3Mt) is collected for recycling, and more than half of that (0.7Mt) is exported overseas. New regulations--Plastic Packaging Tax and Extended Producer Responsibility--incentivise use of recycled plastic, and the 2019 Waste and Resources Strategy aims to recycle 75% of packaging by 2030\. 85% of Britons support banning plastic waste exports, and 83% say businesses are not doing enough to tackle plastic pollution. These sweeping regulatory and market changes are creating enormous demand for processes that safely close the loop and deliver high-quality recycled plastic. The gap between UK plastic waste and recycling capacity is growing, and Anthesis estimates £1B investment in recycling is needed to deliver required capacity. Conventional mechanical recycling will not be enough: PlasticsEurope estimates planned chemical recycling investment at €2.5B in 2025, increasing to €8B in 2030 as the technology develops. Solvent-based chemical recycling can tolerate mixed and contaminated waste streams, producing higher-quality products than mechanical recycling. The solvent must be carefully selected for specific plastics, which requires costly and time-consuming experimentation. Green Rose Chemistry will partner with the Cambridge iDMT to apply recent advances in machine learning to develop a method for computational prediction of solvents for plastics, enabling faster, cheaper, lab-free development of recycling methods. This digitally-powered green chemistry service will tackle the plastics waste problem and move the UK toward a circular Net Zero economy.