About BOTTLE

The Bio-Optimized Technologies to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE™) consortium conducts high-impact research and development to change the way we recycle.

BOTTLE efforts include the development of improved catalytic and biocatalytic recycling strategies to break down today's plastics into chemical building blocks for manufacturing circular polymers and designing tomorrow's plastics to be recyclable-by-design.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Bioenergy Technologies Office and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. BOTTLE is led by experts from multiple partner national laboratories and universities with demonstrated experience in process development and integration, chemical catalysis, biocatalysis, material science, separations, modeling, economic analysis, and sustainability assessment. Learn about U.S. Department of Energy-Funded Collaborations.

The consortium team includes members from Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Colorado State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Learn about the BOTTLE leadership team. Learn about the BOTTLE leadership team.

Our Mission

Develop robust processes to upcycle existing waste plastics and create new circular polymers.

Our Goals

• Develop scalable, cost-effective, and efficient processes to deconstruct and upcycle commodity thermoplastics and thermosets that are discarded in large quantities today.
• Design new bio-based chemistries and associated processes for direct chemical recycling of future plastics and composites that are recyclable-by-design.
• Work with industry to catalyze a new upcycling paradigm for plastics.

Do you need help meeting your circularity targets? Learn how to join the BOTTLE consortium.