Experts have developed a way of using polyethylene waste (PE) as a feedstock and converted it into valuable chemicals, via light-driven photocatalysis. PE is the most widely used plastic in the world ...

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 ...

Scientists have discovered that waxworm caterpillars can break down polyethylene plastic, one of the most common and persistent pollutants on Earth. These “plastivores” metabolize plastic into body ...

Recycled plastic pellets from polyethylene (PE) can be used when making a water bottle for instance. But we can never have full knowledge of what chemicals will end up in an item made of recycled ...

In a landfill, a plastic bottle can take more than a thousand years to break down. But a new process can transform polyethylene plastic in days, using bacteria to eat the waste and then turn it into a ...

Now that’s how you upcycle. In a recent study, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were able to gene-hack a strain of bacteria to turn wasteful polyethylene plastic into a spider silk-like ...

Each year, over 496 million tons of plastic enter our world, from consumer-facing packaging and products to industrial machinery and commercial parts. But when that plastic — much of which is only ...

Plastic film has been notoriously difficult to recycle. The material is excluded from many curbside recycling programs because of its reputation as a “tangler,” as plastic film can get caught in ...

While a pile of polyethylene plastic wrap piled up in a storage shed for the Dillon Marina (from boats wrapped up in the off-season) Craig Simson, the "Mayor" of the Dillon Marina started looking for ...

Finally, since heat is the factor that triggers plastic release, avoid putting boiling liquids directly into plastic-lined ...