Scientists estimate we recycle only nine percent of the plastic that鈥檚 produced around the world. A chemistry professor at Virginia Tech has discovered a way to use waste plastic to produce an ingredient that could be used to make soap.
Plastic is costly and difficult to recycle, partly because so much of it is contaminated with food waste and other materials. Chemist Guoliang 鈥淕reg鈥� Liu said there are lots of things plastic could be turned into 鈥淏ut the problem that we face right now is often that there鈥檚 not enough economic incentive to the industry to recycle them,鈥� Liu said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e trying to find a way to recycle into something that鈥檚 more useful to our daily life.鈥�
He鈥檚 been working on a new technique to break down plastic molecules from polyethylene and polypropylene using heat, and isolate an oil. Liu says this oil is nearly identical to an ingredient used in most types of soap. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a molecule that we use every day,鈥� Liu said.