Scientists develop the New recyclable plastic
A new kind of plastic that can be conveniently broken down into its chemical building blocks and rebuilt into high-grade products was developed by scientists. This new plastic can decrease the amount of plastic waste reaching landfills.
Every year, more than 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced around the world, and just a small fraction is recycled – for example, around 10% in the United States. The remaining is dumped into landfills, dripped into the environment, or incinerated.
The reason why only a small portion of plastic is recycled is due to the fact that it is tough to break down, and the chemical structure of the plastic gets damaged during the processes usually utilized to remold old plastics. Because of this, recycled plastic is typically used only to make low-value items, like waste bins and outdoor benches.
To resolve this issue, Eugene Chen at Colorado State University and his coworkers created a plastic that preserves its original qualities even after recycling.
The material, known as PBTL, is formed by joining bicyclic thiolactones – chemical building blocks. Chen claimed that PBTL has exceptional strength, stability, and toughness. This implies that it could possibly
be used to produce plastic packaging, sports equipment, vehicle parts, construction materials, etc.The scientists discovered that PBTL can be recycled quickly by heating it at 100°C for 24 hours in the presence of a chemical catalyst, and this process breaks the plastic easily into its initial building blocks, which can then be rebuilt into new premium PBTL.
Chen said the difficulty is that the PBTL can just be broken down and remolded this way when it is on its own, implying that before recycling, it would certainly require to be separated from other types of plastic in mixed plastic waste.
Scientists develop the first recyclable plastic
Author: Sruthi S
