To address the growing plastics crisis the Mellichamp Initiative has fostered the creation of ASAP, an interdisciplinary task force of chemical engineers, life cycle specialists, and social scientists, to invent and distribute technological solutions to the plastics problem. The Center for Advancing Sustainability via Action on Plastics (ASAP) advances the science, technology, and policy needed to create value from used plastics in environmentally and socially responsible ways, accelerating the transition to a circular plastic economy, and allowing the world to continue to benefit from plastics, while preventing widespread contamination of the natural environment. The founder and principal investigator of ASAP, Mellichamp Chair Dr. Susannah L. Scott, uses her chemical engineering expertise to explore the science of polymer upcycling while also orchestrating the integration of social science, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle analysis into the scientific and engineering solutions pursued by the center.