Collaborate Disseminate
Developing forms of plastic that don’t take centuries to break down after use is a common objective among eco-conscious material scientists, and lately we’re seeing how bacteria might offer a helping hand. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have… Continue reading Bacteria converts degraded plastic bottles into vanilla flavoring
Back in January, we covered an autonomous plastic trash collector called Clearbot that was designed to remove waste from areas such as harbors, lakes and canals. Now the startup behind the project has partnered with gaming titan Razer for an updated de… Continue reading Clearbot ups its marine-trash-removal game with help from Razer
While millions of tons of plastic are produced in the US each year, only around 9 percent is recycled, and that is largely due to the difficulties around reducing the material to useful building blocks for other products. A new chemical treatment devel… Continue reading Chemical process converts plastic into jet fuel ingredients in an hour
Modern scientific techniques are rapidly improving our understanding of how plastic pollution can impact marine organisms, and a new study has demonstrated how they can also be used to understand the plight of creatures past. Scientists have used museu… Continue reading Historical fish gut study shows they’ve been eating plastic since 1950
Plastic is a major environmental issue, since most of it doesn’t break down easily – and even when it does, it usually forms microplastic pieces that pose their own problems. A new type of compostable plastic is embedded with enzymes that, when trigger… Continue reading Embedded enzymes make for compostable plastics that break down in days
MIT engineers have found a new use for a common plastic, managing to spin polyethylene into fabric that can passively cool the wearer by allowing heat through and moisture to evaporate. The discovery could see waste plastic bags being turned into sport… Continue reading Waste plastic could be spun into eco-friendly clothing
As millions of tons of plastic wash into the ocean everyday, scientists have their work cut out for them in trying to keep tabs on its whereabouts, but they may soon have a useful new tool at the their disposal. Researchers at the University of Barcelo… Continue reading Artificial intelligence software detects ocean plastics from the air
Removing the vast amounts of plastic waste already polluting our oceans is going to need tackling in a number of ways. But the flow of plastic from rivers also needs to be stopped, and that’s what Vietnam’s trash traps are designed to do.Continue Readi… Continue reading Trash trap gets to work removing plastic waste from Vietnam’s Red River
Quite different from the plastic forks and knives you might be used to using when dining casually, S+ Cutlery uses both plastic and glass fibers for reusable performance built to hold up to life on the go (whenever that should return). The utensils are… Continue reading Pocket-size collapsible fiberglass cutlery dines and dashes
As useful as plastics are in our everyday life, they’re difficult to recycle, meaning most ends up in landfill or polluting the environment. Now, researchers in Japan have used a novel catalyst to recycle a common plastic into useful products like fuel… Continue reading New catalyst converts common plastic waste into fuels and wax