Scientists convert everyday plastics into fully recyclable and potentially biodegradable materials

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) have developed a new method for recycling HDPE. Using a novel catalytic approach, iCOUP scientists from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and Cornell University transformed waste HDPE plastic into a new material that can be recycled repeatedly without loss of quality.

“We are using waste plastic as our source instead of fossil fuels. Instead of drilling for oil and polluting the environment, we’re using stuff that would otherwise be incinerated or left in a landfill.” — Geoffrey Coates, Cornell University

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Taxonomy

• Polymers & Plastics
• plastic pollution
• plastic debris
• Single-use plastic
• Beat Plastic Pollution