Category: Recycling

A research team from the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), led by Dr. Chong-Pyo Cho of the Energy Convergence System Research Department, has successfully developed South Korea’s first continuous oxy-fuel combustion-based gasification process for converting waste plastics—including hard-to-recycle thermoset resins—into high-quality syngas.

Amid growing concerns over climate change and resource depletion, the recycling of plastic waste is becoming increasingly vital. In 2023, the global waste plastic recycling market was valued at around 100 trillion KRW and is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 8.1%, reaching approximately 173 trillion KRW by 2030.

Chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have unveiled an innovative method to upcycle discarded plastics, offering a potential solution to the growing global plastic waste crisis. By editing the polymers of common plastic waste, the researchers have created new macromolecules with improved properties, such as greater strength, rigidity, and heat resistance. This breakthrough could dramatically reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste, which amounts to roughly 450 million tons annually, with only 9% of it being recycled. The rest is either incinerated or ends up in landfills and oceans, contributing to environmental pollution.

The new technique, detailed in a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, harnesses molecular editing to rearrange polymeric building blocks, enabling the creation of more versatile and higher-performance plastics from waste materials. The method allows for precise modification of polymer chains, turning low-value, discarded plastics into valuable resources with a wide range of applications.

Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Billions of tons of plastic accumulate on land, pollute our oceans, and break down into microplastics, infiltrating ecosystems, water sources, and even the human bloodstream. The growing crisis is compounded by the fact that most plastics are made from durable polymers that resist biodegradation, with biodegradable alternatives accounting for less than 20% of total production. While the processes to break down these plastics remain cumbersome, new advancements are on the horizon.

In a groundbreaking study published in ACS Nano, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed a novel biodegradable composite plastic that can degrade easily using bacteria. This new material, which combines a biodegradable polymer with biological crystals, is not only environmentally friendly but also cheap, easy to produce, and exceptionally strong. The research was led by Dr. Angelica Niazov-Elkan, Dr. Haim Weissman, and Professor Boris Rybtchinski, alongside the late Dr. Eyal Shimoni, Dr. XiaoMeng Sui, Dr. Yishay Feldman, and Professor H. Daniel Wagner.