Ph.D. candidate seeks to manage plastic waste sustainably
Ph.D. candidate Luc Wetherbee poses while doing lab work.
Luc Wetherbee, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, uses organic synthesis to help make the world more sustainable through better management of our plastic waste. Photo by Pauline Oo, CSE Communications and Marketing

Luc Wetherbee hopes his research will change plastic recycling for the better

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (07/16/2025) — Much of University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering Ph.D. candidate Luc Wetherbee’s work seeks to answer one question. What do we do with plastics when we’re done with them? 

“Making plastics is something we have figured out,” Wetherbee said. “How do we treat it sustainably at the end of its life?”

Wetherbee, who is part of the inaugural class of the University of Minnesota NSF-funded Circularity Impact Program, studies polymers through an organic synthesis lens.

“Knowing that I’m advancing some realm of fundamental science that has never been seen before is very exciting,” said Wetherbee. “Polymer chemistry is extremely important in order to advance the kinds of materials that we’re making.”

Current recycling practices make it difficult to break plastic down into the smaller parts it is made from. Wetherbee hopes to solve this issue by studying how polymers can be chemically recycled into the smaller parts that were used to make them. 

Wetherbee, a recipient of the Pillsbury Robert L. Ferm Memorial Award and the Monsanto Franz Innovation Award, explains the impact of his research in the video below.

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