Collaborate Disseminate
While many companies may claim that their products contain recycled (as opposed to 100% virgin) plastic, how can we know if they’re telling the truth? According to a new study, a fluorescent molecule could blow the whistle on manufacturers who are lyin… Continue reading Fluorescent molecule could verify recycled content of plastic products
The Ocean Cleanup has a huge task on its hands in ridding the seas of plastic waste, but a sleek new video offers a compelling look at its latest plan of attack. The animation shows massive trash-collection barriers sweeping through the Great Pacific G… Continue reading Ocean Cleanup video artfully depicts demise of Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have developed a device that can efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide into ethylene, a plastic precursor material. When run using renewable energy, the technique could make for net negative e… Continue reading “Net negative” system converts captured CO2 into plastic precursor
Scientists have turned plastic into diamonds. Using high-powered lasers, the team zapped samples of PET, the common material used in plastic bottles, to produce intense heat and pressure to form tiny diamonds that may naturally rain down on planets lik… Continue reading X-ray laser converts plastic into diamonds, recreating Uranus rain
Old electronics are tricky to recycle, meaning they clog up landfills while locking valuable metals away. Now scientists have demonstrated printed circuits that can be degraded on demand, returning their materials to reusable forms.Continue ReadingCate… Continue reading Electronic circuit degrades on demand into recyclable pieces
While the price of 3D printers has come down quite a lot in the past few years, filament continues to be rather pricey especially for those doing a lot of …read more Continue reading PET Bottles Diligently Turned Into Filament
The idea of upcycling plastic waste into even more valuable products is a meritorious one, but some forms of the material lend themselves to this process better than others. Polystyrene lays at the more problematic end of the spectrum, but a team of Vi… Continue reading UV upcycling treatment could help polystyrene recyclers break even
Plastic pollution is a grave and growing concern, but the biggest problems that it poses may just come from its smallest forms. Tiny fragments of the stuff are now strewn across the entire globe and are beginning to show up in different parts of the hu… Continue reading What do we really know about microplastics and human health?
Imagine for a moment that you design products for a living. But you can’t design all the things, so you have to buy some of your stuff from big-box stores …read more Continue reading The Tools to Fight Against Single-Use Plastic
Scientists experimenting with next-generation plastics at Finland’s University of Turku have developed a form of the material with some impressive capabilities, most notably an ability to quickly break down after use. The eco-friendly “supramolecular” … Continue reading New supramolecular plastic heals itself in an instant