Despite global concerns over the accumulation of plastic waste, the drive to produce new plastics shows no signs of slowing down. According to OECD data, the world’s annual plastic production has ...

Scientists are exploring a method to convert plastic waste into fuels and valuable chemicals using sunlight, potentially ...

Sunlight hits tiny particles of plastic floating in a clear water solution. Slowly, they begin to disappear, leaving behind a familiar household chemical: acetic acid, the main ingredient in vinegar.

Plastic waste is one of the most serious pollution problems on the planet. Plastics are hard to break down and can last for decades in nature, even under the harshest conditions. A new catalyst ...

Plastics are widely used but difficult to degrade, posing an ecological challenge. A team from SIAT developed degradable "living plastics" using synthetic biology and polymer engineering. They ...

Innovative strategies for reducing plastic pollution are vital for a sustainable future. Learn how effective solutions can create positive environmental change.

We’ve managed to accumulate so much plastic trash that it’s daunting to think about what could be done with the tons upon tons of nonbiodegradable waste. And as much as we are trying to scale back our ...

Water used to wash recycling materials in the study became progressively darker as it was reused. Photo courtesy of Greg Curtzwiler/Iowa State University. Researchers from Iowa State’s Polymer and ...

Single-use plastic might just be the most insane act of collective self-harm humanity commits every single day. Each year, the United Nations Environment Programme estimates that we discard a ...

Current methods to recycle plastics often use expensive catalysts, harsh conditions and produce toxic byproducts. New process converts PET plastic into monomer building blocks, which can be recycled ...