Dr. William F. Carroll

From Garbage to Stuff: How We Recycle Plastics

Is that recycling bin the springboard to giving material a new life, or is it simply a blue wastebasket? What about surplus materials from industrial processes? Do they find their way out the back door to the landfill? This presentation discusses the four critical steps in recycling-- collection, separation, reprocessing and remanufacture-and how they relate to plastics. The technology, the cost and the efficacy of the processes all matter. And the operative word, plastics, really is plural. Presentation includes a primer in the basic kinds of plastics, how they differ and how they're used in common articles, especially packaging.

Did you ever imagine that trash could be interesting and entertaining??

Come hear Bill Carroll and see!!

Dr. William F. Carroll, Jr. holds a B.A. in Chemistry and Physics from DePauw University, Greencastle, IN, an M.S. from Tulane University in New Orleans, and a Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, both in Organic Chemistry. Bill started his industry career in 1978 and after a year with Rohm and Haas Company, Bristol, PA, moved to what is now known as Occidental Chemical Corporation. He is currently Vice President, Chlorovinyl Issues for OxyChem and works on public policy issues and communications related to chlorine and PVC.

He is also Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and teaches polymer chemistry there. Bill was President of the American Chemical Society in 2005. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a member of the US National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. He received the Vinyl Institute's Roy T. Gottesman Leadership Award for lifetime achievement in 2000. He holds two patents, and has over forty publications in the fields of organic electrochemistry, polymer chemistry, combustion chemistry and physics, incineration, plastics recycling and chlorine issues.

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