Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their partners from Clemson University have discovered a green, low-energy process to break down polystyrene, a type of plastic that is widely used in foam packaging materials, disposable food containers, cutlery, and many other applications. Polystyrene is part of a much larger global plastic waste problem. Hundreds of millions of metric tons of polymers are produced each year, a large part of which is discarded after use.
Due to the chemical stability and durability of industrial polymers, plastic waste does not easily degrade in landfills and is often burned, which produces carbon dioxide and other hazardous gases. In order to stop the growing flood of polymer waste and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, plastics have to be recycled or converted into new value-added products.
Currently, recycling of the vast majority of plastics is not economically feasible; their sorting and separation are time and labour-intensive, while chemical processing and remanufacturing require significant energy input and toxic solvents. Re-processed polymers often show inferior performance to that of the freshly manufactured “made from scratch” materials.