Australian Researcher Wins Award for Scrap Plastics Usage

Veena Sahajwalla, a researcher with the University of New South Wales, has won the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research for demonstrating a method to use waste plastic to make steel.

The plastic replaces coal as a source of carbon in the steel-making process. She expects to see the technology in use in Australia and the US within two years.

Sahajwalla is Director of Sustainable Materials Processing Research at the University of New South Wales.

According to Sahajwalla, "Up to 30% of the coal in these (steel) furnaces can be replaced with recycled plastic and we are aiming for more."

"Not only does the plastic replace coal as a carbon source, it also acts as a fuel, reducing the power requirements for the furnace, and the extreme temperatures of steelmaking eliminate pollutants like dioxins."

"In Australia, we consume more than one million metric tons of plastic each year. Eighty percent is incinerated or becomes landfill. So plastic waste remains a major environmental concern," she says.

"We are currently testing mixtures of waste plastics, and we hope to implement our technology in the steel industry in Australia and the United States within the next two years."

This Prize is awarded for outstanding curiosity-driven scientific research, undertaken in Australia by an Australian scientist under the age of 40. It is sponsored by the University of New South Wales.