{"id":10419,"date":"2023-10-31T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=10419"},"modified":"2023-10-20T17:46:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T17:46:24","slug":"new-class-of-recyclable-polymer-materials-could-one-day-help-reduce-single-use-plastic-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/new-class-of-recyclable-polymer-materials-could-one-day-help-reduce-single-use-plastic-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"New class of recyclable polymer materials could one day help reduce single-use plastic waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Single-use plastics.\n Anton Petrus\/Moment<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nKatherine Harry<\/a>, Colorado State University<\/a><\/em> and Emma Rettner<\/a>, Colorado State University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Hundreds of millions of tons<\/a> of single-use plastic ends up in landfills every year, and even the small percentage of plastic that gets recycled can\u2019t last forever. But our group of materials scientists has developed a new method for creating and deconstructing polymers that could lead to more easily recycled plastics \u2013 ones that don\u2019t require you to carefully sort out all your recycling on trash day. <\/p>\n\n

In the century since their conception, people have come to understand the enormous impacts \u2013 beneficial as well as detrimental \u2013 plastics have on human lives and the environment. As a group of polymer scientists<\/a> dedicated to inventing sustainable solutions for real-world problems, we set out to tackle this issue by rethinking the way polymers are designed and making plastics with recyclability built right in. <\/p>\n\n

Why use plastics, anyway?<\/h2>\n\n

Everyday items including milk jugs, grocery bags, takeout containers and even ropes are made from a class of polymers called polyolefins<\/a>. Polyolefins make up around half of the plastics<\/a> produced and disposed of every year. <\/p>\n\n

These polymers are used in plastics commonly labeled as HDPE, LLDPE or PP, or by their recycling codes #2, #4 and #5, respectively. These plastics are incredibly durable because the chemical bonds<\/a> that make them up are extremely stable. But in a world set up for single-use consumption, this is no longer a design feature but rather a design flaw. <\/p>\n\n