Harnessing the building blocks of polymer recycling

Polymers are lightweight, durable, and easily processed into fabricated parts, features that promoted polymers to become the most relevant class of engineering materials by volume. However, recycling polymers is a challenge ...

New upcycling system for commercial polyesters

While plastics or synthetic polymers have many useful properties, their mismanagement has resulted in widespread pollution that chokes up our ecosystems. As a solution to this, many synthetic polymers are sent for reprocessing ...

Developing a degradation-triggerable plastic made of vanillin

From inexpensive mass products to tailored high-tech materials, our modern world without plastics is unimaginable. The major downside to this is the use of fossil fuels and the growing quantities of waste. A new approach ...

Styrofoam-munching superworms could hold key to plastic upcycling

Packing material, disposable cutlery, CD cases: Polystyrene is among the most common forms of plastic, but recycling it isn't easy and the vast majority ends up in landfills or finds its way to the oceans where it threatens ...

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 ...

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