Recycling is often promoted as a fix for the world’s plastic problem.<\/p>\n
However, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<\/a>, 91% of plastic does not get recycled.<\/p>\n Instead, plastics are often burned for energy, downcycled into weaker materials, or sent to landfills, according to one study published in the journal Sustainable Production and Consumption<\/a>.<\/p>\n To combat that statistic, researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a promising process<\/a> that uses a common, low-cost iron catalyst and alcohol to break down plastic bottles and textile waste almost entirely into their original chemical building blocks.<\/p>\n According to Britannica<\/a>, polyethylene terephthalate (commonly known as PET) is a clear, strong, lightweight resin of the polyester family, and it is widely used in beverage bottles, food containers, and textile fibers.<\/p>\n The Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> reported that PET bottles and jars were recycled at a rate of almost 30% in 2018, and, overall, PET is the most widely recycled plastic.<\/p>\n The researchers’ approach depolymerizes PET, which means it cuts the “ester” bonds that hold the polyester together, according to Eureka.org.<\/a> This turns the waste back into chemical ingredients that can be used to create new plastics.<\/p>\n While this is a large discovery that could lead to better waste management, critics say that chemical recycling is often used to justify more plastic production rather than truly reduce plastic at the source.<\/p>\n Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, told DeSmog<\/a> that, in practice, “very little new plastic is actually created,” during advanced recycling.<\/p>\n This new iron-catalyst technology uses abundant iron, no harsh acids or bases, and delivers almost complete conversion under moderate conditions. As the study’s researchers noted, “The result clearly demonstrates a promising applicability of this catalysis.”<\/p>\n This method could make chemical recycling cheaper by using a lower-cost catalyst and avoiding harsh chemicals and high energy demands.<\/p>\n Ultimately, lower-cost recycling<\/a> could encourage communities and companies to choose more affordable recycled materials and reduce waste.<\/p>\n At scale, this recycling process could make recycling easier for consumers and cheaper for manufacturers, and it could reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills, waterways, and food.<\/p>\n Innovations like this one may support a greener future, but the most reliable way to protect human health and keep plastic out of our environment is to make and use less of it<\/a> in the first place.<\/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":"Recycling is often promoted as a fix for the world’s plastic problem. However, according to the Organisation for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[129549,1397,16475,129548,7536,26327,22355,90,97813,129547,56,54,55,7538],"class_list":{"0":"post-332664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-chemical-ingredients","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-environmental-protection-agency","11":"tag-organisation-for-economic-co-operation-and-development","12":"tag-plastic-bottles","13":"tag-plastic-production","14":"tag-recycled-materials","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-textile-waste","17":"tag-tokyo-metropolitan-university","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom","21":"tag-waste-management"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}