Plastic is one of humanity’s greatest paradoxes. It is cheap, durable, and useful in almost every aspect of modern life. Yet those same qualities have made it one of our greatest burdens. Billions of tons of single-use plastics accumulate each year, and only a fraction ever gets recycled. The rest is burned, buried, or scattered across the planet in forms that linger for centuries.
Now, researchers at Northwestern University may have found a game-changing way forward. Their discovery—a nickel-based catalyst that can break down mixed plastics, even those contaminated with the notoriously difficult PVC—could dramatically simplify recycling. This breakthrough has the potential to transform one of the world’s most intractable waste problems into a renewable source of valuable products.
Continue reading… “The Catalyst That Could Rewrite the Future of Plastic”
