A new plastic that can be recycled over and over again

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Department of Energy’s scientists announced this week that they have designed a plastic that can be recycled over and over again.

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wrote in Nature Chemistry that they had they designed new plastic, called polydiketoenamine or PDK, that could be disassembled down to the molecular level and reassembled into different shapes, textures or colors multiple times.

Modern-day plastics are reinforced with chemicals to make them more resilient and often end up making the material more difficult to fully recycle.

“Light yet sturdy, plastic is great – until you no longer need it. Because plastics contain various additives, like dyes, fillers, or flame retardants, very few plastics can be recycled without loss in performance or aesthetics,” the lab said in a statement.

Even the most recyclable plastic is only being recycled at a rate of 20 to 30 percent, while the rest ends up in incinerators or landfills, researchers said.

Plastic that can be broken down get mixed in with different textures and compositions, described as a “hodgepodge of chopped-up plastics,” making it hard to predict which properties will be inherited.

This unknown has prevented what many consider to be the “Holy Grail of recycling,” the researchers said in the statement.

Brett Helms, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry who helped lead the research, said PDK-based plastics will help prevent items like phone cases and watch bands from ending up in landfills or the oceans.

“We’re interested in the chemistry that redirects plastic lifecycles from linear to circular,” said Helms. “We see an opportunity to make a difference for where there are no recycling options."
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... le-plastic
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A new plastic that can be recycled over and over again

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The big problem I see is so much plastic is never given the chance to be recycled. Wlked along almost ay path or road and count how may plastic water bottles you see. one or more is too many. Maybe we need to go back to glass bottles with a deposit. Gives a kid something to do go find the glass bottles and turn them in for the deposit. We need to reign in the use of disposables in our lives. I do the shopping in the family. I have ten canvas shopping bags i keep in my new RAV4 Hybrid SUV. When shopping I pull what ever I think I need for that store and take them in so I don't need their plastic or paper shopping bags. If more people did that think of the savings for the store and the oil companies would not have to drill so much thus reducing the pollution and global warming. I see Maine in outlawing styrofoam cups. Good for them I remember wax paper Dixie cups. We need to look how we can reduce the waste, not just generate new waste.
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