Chemists are reimagining recycling to keep plastics out of landfills

Seldom Bucket

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It feels good to recycle. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from dutifully sorting soda bottles, plastic bags and yogurt cups from the rest of the garbage. The more plastic you put in that blue bin, the more you’re keeping out of landfills and the oceans, right?


Wrong. No matter how meticulous you are in cleaning and separating your plastics, most end up in the trash heap anyway.


Take flexible food packages. Those films contain several layers of different plastics. Because each plastic has to be recycled separately, those films are not recyclable. Grocery bags and shrink wrap are too flimsy, prone to getting tangled up with other materials on a conveyor belt. The polypropylene in yogurt cups and other items doesn’t usually get recycled either; recycling a hodgepodge of polypropylene produces a dark, smelly plastic that few manufacturers will use.

 
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