A team of Chinese scientists has converted a common type of plastic into useful materials using an inexpensive process, raising hopes that the method could be used to turn plastic waste into valuable products at a large scale.聽Only 9% of plastic waste ever created has been recycled, in part because the current cost of recycling plastics outweighs any financial return. As a result, it is estimated that one garbage truck鈥檚-worth of plastic enters the world鈥檚 oceans every minute.
But, using a catalyst made from common metals, researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing have converted samples of PET plastic (full name polyethylene terephthalate) into commercially useful chemicals, along with hydrogen which can be used for fuel.
In a paper published in Nature Communications, the team revealed the method can yield commodities worth $3,000 from one ton of waste PET. That compares very favorably to a current market value for recycled PET of about $350-400 per ton.聽By developing an economically viable process for dealing with the material, the research appears a promising solution in the fight against plastic waste.
鈥淥ur team was excited when we finally obtained the pure and crystalline commodities from PET plastic,鈥� Haohong Duan, a professor of chemistry at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told me. 鈥淭his result demonstrates the feasibility of transforming waste into valuable products. This achievement encourages us to further optimize this technology and explore new reaction routes to expand the variety of valuable products.鈥�