Development of an Adhesive Based on Waste Management as a Mechanism Towards Sustainability

Abstract

Plastic pollution is an alarming issue; it is a phenomenon that, in addition to altering health, is capable of generating damage to the environment. It is estimated that only 8% of plastics are recycled and that 76% end up in landfill sites or are indiscriminately disposed of into the environment. “Single-use” plastics contribute the most to the generation of pollution due their short “life cycle” since after their useful life, they are discarded. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), one of the plastics with the greatest use as a packaging material, has a complicated recycling process due to its volume and weight characteristics. Based on the above, following the Circular Economy model, the optimal development of an adhesive for the cut-sole union is addressed through the analysis by classified attributes using an orthogonal array L9(3)4 of Taguchi. Of the factors under study, it was determined that the “adhesive formulation” is the factor that statistically significantly influences the degree of adhesion of the cut-sole, followed by the “type of sole”. The adhesive with post-consumer EPS is viable and contributes to minimizing the environmental pollution footprint as a strategy toward sustainability.