![\"A](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2019\/05\/new-recycled-plastic-forever-300x158.png\")
<\/div>Plastic Solution<\/h2>
As of 2015, Americans recycled less than 10 percent<\/a> of the plastics they used, and not only because they’re lazy: Many plastics just aren’t conducive to recycling.<\/p> Now, scientists from Berkeley Lab say they’ve created<\/a> a plastic that can be broken down and recycled indefinitely — and it could help the world address its ever-growing plastic pollution problem<\/a>.<\/p> All plastics comprise large molecules called polymers, which in turn comprise compounds called monomers.<\/p> Often, the chemicals added to plastics to give them desirable traits — rigidity or flexibility, for example — bind so tightly to these monomers that they stick around even after the plastic goes through the recycling process.<\/p> The problem is that when manufacturers use the recycled monomers to make new plastics, they can’t know for sure what properties the new plastic might inherit from the original.<\/p> But in a study<\/a> recently published in the journal Nature Chemistry<\/em>, the Berkeley team details its creation of a new kind of plastic called poly(diketoenamine), or PDK.<\/p> Instead of being permanent, the bonds between the chemical additives and monomers in PDK are reversible — they dissolve when the material is placed in a highly acidic solution, which allowed the researchers to use the reclaimed monomers to create a recycled plastic that didn’t exhibit the same properties as the recycled plastic.<\/p> “Most plastics were never made to be recycled,” researcher Peter Christensen said in a press release<\/a>.”But we have discovered a new way to assemble plastics that takes recycling into consideration from a molecular perspective.”<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> Plastic Gets a Do-Over: Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic From the Inside Out<\/a> [Berkeley Lab]<\/p> More on plastic: <\/strong>An Australian Ban Kept Billions of Plastic Bags From Polluting<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post This New Plastic Can Be Recycled Repeatedly<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Originally posted here: Plastic Solution As of 2015, Americans recycled less than 10 percent of the plastics they used, and not only because they\u2019re lazy: Many plastics just aren\u2019t conducive to recycling. Now, scientists from Berkeley Lab say they\u2019ve\u00a0 created a plastic that can be broken down and recycled indefinitely\u00a0\u2014 and it could help the world address its ever-growing plastic pollution problem Continue reading Tight Bond<\/h2>
Acid Test<\/h2>
This New Plastic Can Be Recycled Repeatedly<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"