In addition to these plastic waste projects, a small group of U-Talent students carried out their thesis research project, with help from a Utrecht University researcher. Their topic focused on the decomposition of plastics in the recycling process. Within several meetings, these students were able to perform experiments determining the differences in decomposition between lab controlled plastics and post-consumer plastics. This research aimed to determine whether the lab controlled plastics used in recycling innovation experiments behave in similar ways as the actual plastic containers we as consumers are using. The students presented their findings at the online U-Talent thesis symposium 2022 and concluded their presentation with “To all future students researching this topic: we helped you, will you continue this work?”.
