Putting an end to plastic separation anxiety

Bio-based plastics such as polylactic acid (PLA) were invented to help solve the plastic waste crisis, but they often end up making waste management more challenging.

Recycling plastics might be making things worse

A team of environmental engineers at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and Dalhousie University Halifax in Canada has found that techniques for recycling plastics may inadvertently lead to increased environmental ...

Enzyme breaks down PET plastic in record time

Plastic bottles, punnets, wrap—lightweight packaging made of PET plastic becomes a problem if it is not recycled. Scientists at Leipzig University have now discovered a highly efficient enzyme that degrades PET in record ...

A call to change recycling standards as 3-D printing expands

The 3-D printing revolution has changed the way we think about plastics. Everything from children's toys to office supplies to high-value laboratory equipment can be printed. The potential savings of producing goods at the ...

IBM, Stanford cite advance in plastic recycling (w/ Video)

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal, Macromolecules, scientists from IBM and Stanford University detail discoveries that could lead to the development of new types of biodegradable, biocompatible ...

A research team is developing a method to recycle more plastics

Despite consumer efforts to sort and separate recyclables, most plastic bottles still end up in the landfill. Standard recycling methods to sort, shred and remake plastics are limited to just type-1 and type-2 plastics—basically ...

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