Graduate student RJ Conk adjusts a reaction chamber in which mixed plastics are degraded into the reusable building blocks of new polymers. A new chemical process can essentially vaporize plastics ...

One reason plastic waste persists in the environment is because there’s not much that can eat it. The chemical structure of most polymers is stable and different enough from existing food sources that ...

The world is miserable at recycling plastics. Currently, just 10–15% of the plastic waste we generate annually is recycled — with the rest incinerated, buried in landfill or dumped as litter 1, 2. A ...

Yuwei Gu was hiking through Bear Mountain State Park in New York when inspiration struck. Plastic bottles littered the trail and more floated on a nearby lake. The jarring sight in such a pristine ...

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Note: Eastman Chemical Company’s first “molecular recycling” facility is now fully operational in Kingsport. It uses a process called methanolysis to reduce hard-to-recycle waste plastic to its ...

Plastic pollution is poisoning the planet. Some experts suggest making plastics from more "natural" materials, but research shows those still have risks. When you purchase through links on our site, ...

A tractor making piles of compost. Firms are developing bacteria and enzymes that might one day be used to break down microplastics in compost. Credit: Shutterstock Synthetic polymers have been on the ...

There are essentially three widely used technologies for manufacturing plastic products: Injection molding, extrusion, and blow molding. Injection molding is the most commonly used process for the ...

While biodegradable plastics and recycling technologies have received widespread attention, a quieter revolution is taking place in the form of plant-based coatings for plastics. These innovative ...