October 19, 2021, The European Patent Office (EPO) issued patents for tomorrow's plastics: global innovation trends in recycling, circular design and alternative sources to study the innovation trend of plastics transformation to circular economy by analyzing international patents from 2010 to 2019.
According to the data in the report, about 30% of the international patent families (IPFs) in the United States and Europe are related to the recycling plastics industry and have a world leading position. The main conclusions can be divided into the following five points:
1. The United States and Europe stand out among the global innovators in the recycling plastics industry
2. Active patent activities in the field of chemical and biological recycling
3. Basic research is the key to the further development of chemical and biological recycling.
4. Bioplastics have become a substitute for traditional fossil materials
5. The rapid emergence of technology has made possible the novel design of durable plastic materials
1、 European and American countries have patent advantages in recycling plastics
At present, the United States and Europe are still the major global innovators in the recycling of the plastic industry. From 2010 to 2019, about 30% of the international patent families (IPFs) in the United States and Europe were related to the recycling plastics industry, far ahead of Asian countries (5% in China, 5% in South Korea and 18% in Japan).
Among Europe, Germany has the highest share of international patent families, reaching 8%, but there is still a lack of high specialization, while France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium stand out because of their high specialization in these fields.

Proportion of international patent families in the five major source countries of inventions related to the recycling plastics industry (2010-2019)

What is a patent family?
Patent family includes narrow sense and broad sense.
A narrow patent family refers to a collection of patent applications in different countries. For example, we first apply for a patent in the United States, and then judge that the relevant technology or products may be sold to Japan, the European Union and other countries. In order to obtain the exclusive right of the technology creation in that country, we apply for a patent in that country or region. Therefore, the combination of the same patent invention content (usually based on the judgment of claims) applied in different countries is called the narrow patent family.
Broad patent family refers to different applications derived from a subsequent patent, That is, after the disclosure of the same technical invention (usually refers to the contents disclosed by claim), different patent applications (claims with different protection scope) continue to be derived subsequently. Therefore, other inventions derived from the same technical creation, together with the patent portfolio applied by relevant patents in other countries, is a broad patent family.
2、 Patents in the field of chemical and biological recovery
Mechanical recycling is the simplest and most commonly used solution to convert plastic waste into new products. From 2010 to 2019, there are about 4500 international patent families in this field. In the same period, the number of international patent families on chemical and biological recovery methods reached more than 9000, which is more prominent.
Chemical methods mainly include pyrolysis and pyrolysis. In the recycling process, the chemical structure of plastic waste will be transformed into a mixture of basic chemicals, which can be flexibly reused in the petrochemical industry. Innovation in these technologies peaked in 2014.
After 2014, the "plastic monomer recycling" technology provides the possibility of decomposing the polymer into its original components. After decomposing into the original construction, the products obtained are closer to the original quality materials, there is more possibility of recycling, which has attracted more attention.
3、 Bioplastics have become a substitute for traditional fossil materials
The number of international patent families of "plastic to compost" technology is relatively small. This promising technology involves the use of organisms to degrade polymers into compost.
The premise of these recycling is to have more efficient collection methods, and screen, separate and clean different types of plastics before recycling. Its innovation mainly focuses on waste classification and separation, including the use of advanced technologies such as optical recognition and artificial intelligence (AI). From 2010 to 2019, there were about 3400 international patent families in this field.

In smaller technological branches, industrial natural polymers show the potential to make reusable and recyclable plastics that are easily decomposed by microorganisms.

Patents for the recycling process from bioplastics to compost have been increasing in recent years, and these technologies are expected to realize full cycle. They mainly refer to the degradation of polymers into compost or the synthesis of useful compounds through the use of enzymes or organisms.

According to the statistics of the European Plastics Association in 2020, the plastic demand for medical care accounts for less than 3% of the total plastic demand in Europe. However, in terms of the number of international patent families of bioplastics, medical care is by far the most important industry. From 2010 to 2019, there were more than 19000 international patent families. At the same time, cosmetics and detergents have the highest innovation rate in the field of bioplastics. In this industry, the number of international patent families related to bioplastics accounts for 32% of traditional plastics. Packaging, electronics and textiles are also important contributors to bioplastics innovation. From 2010 to 2019, the number of international patent families was 6400, 4500 and 3300 respectively. The market penetration of agriculture is very high (10%), and the number of international patent families of bioplastics in 2019 is 2.5 times that in 2010.