Easily Recyclable and Compostable – A New Plastic With Excellent Mechanical Stability
How can plastics be designed so that they maintain their useful properties while also being more easily recyclable? Chemist Stefan Mecking and his research group…
Plastic News
Experiment Proves Bacteria Really Eat Plastic – Broken Down Into Harmless Substances
Laboratory experiment shows that bacteria really eat and digest plastic. The bacterium Rhodococcus ruber eats and actually digests plastic. This has been shown in laboratory…
Scientists Recycle Previously Unrecyclable Plastic
PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is a widely used plastic in the United States and globally, ranking as the third highest by volume worldwide. It can…
Scientists Transform Plastic Waste Into a Valuable Soil Additive
University of California, Riverside, method creates useful char from plastic and corn waste. University of California, Riverside, scientists have moved a step closer to finding…
Startling Discovery: 60% of Home “Compostable” Plastic Doesn’t Fully Decompose, Contaminating Our Soil
In a UK-wide study, researchers found that 60% of home-compostable plastics do not fully disintegrate in home compost bins, and inevitably end up in our…
New Technology Is Key Step Toward Big Gains in Plastics Recycling
Scientists have taken a key step toward greatly expanding the range of plastics that can be recycled. The study, which was led by the U.S….
Particles From Common Household Paints Can Harm Living Organisms
Researchers from the University of Bayreuth have examined two standard dispersion paints and found that they contain numerous solid particles that are barely a few…
New Plastic Upcycling Technology: From Waste To Fuel for Less
New technology could divert problem plastics from landfills and convert them into fuel sources. A plastics recycling innovation that does more with less simultaneously increases…
57% of Species: Startling Numbers of Small Mammals Are “Plastic Positive”
More than half of the species investigated had traces of plastic in their excrement, according to researchers looking into how much plastic small mammals in…
Bacteria Can Remove Plastic Pollution From Lakes – “Stimulating the Whole Food Web”
Scientists discovered that some naturally-occurring lake bacteria grow faster and more efficiently on the remains of plastic bags than on natural matter like leaves and…
New Method Allows Scientists To Remove 95% of Nanoplastics
Scientists Use Apples To Remove Nanoplastics Ecosystems are known to accumulate microplastics, and the breakdown of microplastics produces nanoplastics. Nanoplastics are plastic particles that are…
New Bioplastic Breaks Down Into Recyclable Components Upon Command
Light-based upcycling: crosslinked polymers produced from biomass Society today would not be able to exist without plastics, from low-cost mass-produced items to specialized high-tech materials….
A New Method Causes Plastics To Break Down When Exposed to UV Light
Researchers from the University of Bath discovered that adding sugar units to polymers increases their degradability when exposed to UV radiation Many plastics that bear…
Worms With Superpowers – How a Special Type of Worm Can Quickly Break Down Plastics
A CSIC research team found that wax worm saliva contains enzymes that can initiate polyethylene degradation in a short period of time A CSIC research…
Scientists Discover “Superworms” Capable of Munching Through Plastic Waste
According to the American Chemistry Council, in 2018 in the United States, 27.0 million tons of plastic ended up in landfills compared to just 3.1…
Plastic Pollution in the Ocean May Harbor Novel Antibiotics
Many environmentalists point to plastic pollution in the ocean as a large and growing problem, pointing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how even…
A Unique Catalyst for Breaking Down Plastics Paves the Way for Plastic Upcycling
Plastic upcycling technologies are being advanced by a recently developed catalyst for breaking down plastics. A team of scientists lead by Ames Laboratory scientists discovered…
Science Made Simple: What Are Microplastics?
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. Plastic is the most prevalent…
