Adhesive Interfaces toward a Zero-Waste Industry

Abstract

This Feature Article evaluates ongoing efforts to adapt adhesives toward the goal of zero-waste living and suggests the most promising future directions. Adhesives are not always considered in zero-waste manufacturing because they represent only a small fraction of a product and offer no additional functionality. However, their presence restricts the reintegration of constituent parts into a circular economy, so a new generation of adhesives is required. Furthermore, their production often leads to harmful pollutants. Here, two main approaches toward addressing these problems are considered: first, the use of natural materials that replace petroleum-based polymers from which conventional adhesives are made and second, the production of dismantlable adhesives capable of debonding on demand with the application of an external stimulus. These approaches, either individually or combined, offer a new paradigm in zero-waste industrial production and consumer applications.