{"id":268179,"date":"2026-01-28T10:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/268179\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T10:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:46:14","slug":"researchers-make-groundbreaking-discovery-that-could-solve-major-issue-with-common-waste-a-promising-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/268179\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers make groundbreaking discovery that could solve major issue with common waste: ‘A promising route’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic food packaging often ends up trashed soon after it’s made, contributing to a pollution problem<\/a> that’s overrunning our natural resources.<\/p>\n

A team of scientists has an idea about how to convert polystyrene, a popular form of the material, into another useful product, according to an abstract published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We believe that this \u2026 strategy offers a promising route for upcycling waste plastics,” Tsinghua University researcher Zedong Zhang said<\/a>, per Phys.org.<\/p>\n

Tsinghua’s team in China collaborated with an international group of experts on the project.<\/p>\n

It all starts at the molecular level.<\/p>\n

Polystyrene is heated in hydrogen and broken down into “small vapor molecules” using hydropyrolysis to make the chemical toluene, which can be used in “industrial and manufacturing settings,” Phys.org noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After heating, the vapor moves into the second part of the single reactor, meeting a catalyst and hydrogen gas and going through hydrogenolysis<\/a>. In short, hydrogen breaks chemical bonds in the vapor, reforming it into toluene.<\/p>\n

The process reuses common plastics and affordably reduces air pollution from toluene production by 53%<\/a> compared to fossil fuel-based methods.<\/p>\n

Temperatures during the two-stage process reach up to nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The toluene yield was 83.5%<\/a> during testing.<\/p>\n

“The main objective of this study was to demonstrate that single-atom catalysts can overcome the traditional yield\u2013selectivity trade-off and offer new routes for plastic upcycling,” Zhang told<\/a> the publication.<\/p>\n

It’s part of research happening all over the world to understand how plastics break down at the molecular level. Most of it takes centuries to degrade<\/a>, leaving behind harmful microplastics.<\/p>\n

The particles are leaching into our world, including our bodies. Experts at Stanford Medicine are concerned<\/a> about inflammation and organ damage linked to the tiny particles.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, plastic recycling rates are a paltry 9%. Chemical & Engineering News attributed<\/a> the low rate to “hard times” for recycling<\/a> companies and regulations requiring the use of reused plastics.<\/p>\n

While companies such as Coca-Cola continue to move toward using more sustainable materials, C&EN reported<\/a> that many companies fall short<\/a> of their plastic-reduction goals for a variety of reasons, leading to “walked back” targets and “extended deadlines.”<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is that new plastics are cheaper than recycled material, the story added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Avoiding<\/a> plastic use altogether might be the best way to prevent its harmful impact. Simple everyday actions make a big difference, often giving you a better experience while saving money.<\/p>\n

Brewing your own coffee instead of using single-use pods<\/a> is a great place to start. Ditching throwaway grocery bags<\/a> is another easy win. Cloth totes will provide a better experience without troublesome breaks.<\/p>\n

TerraCycle<\/a> is a handy resource that can help you find ways to recycle even the toughest products that you can’t avoid.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Zhang’s team intends to continue testing and perfecting its process.<\/p>\n

“We aim to further explore scalable tandem fixed-bed reactor designs to support longer operation times and higher plastic throughput,” the expert said<\/a>, per Phys.org.<\/p>\n

Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plastic food packaging often ends up trashed soon after it’s made, contributing to a pollution problem that’s overrunning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,126101,61,60,131753,82,27593,131752],"class_list":["post-268179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-hydrogen-gas","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-molecular-level","tag-science","tag-tsinghua-university","tag-zedong-zhang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}