A new chemical process can essentially vaporize plastics that dominate the waste stream today and turn them into hydrocarbon building blocks for new plastics. The catalytic process, developed at the ...

Polyethylene plastics -- single-use bags and general-purpose bottles -- are indestructable forever plastics. That also makes them hard to recycle. Chemists have found a way to break down the polymer - ...

In two studies, researchers present new ways to convert common waste plastics, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), into high-value chemical products, including alcohols, aldehydes, surfactants, ...

Polyethylene plastics — in particular, the ubiquitous plastic bag that blights the landscape — are notoriously hard to recycle. They’re sturdy and difficult to break down, and if they’re recycled at ...

KBR has launched a patented polymer dissolution technology (PDT) for purifying and recycling polyethylene and polypropylene to address the growing imbalance between plastic consumption, waste ...

Image courtesy Ohmega1982/freedigitalphotos.net. A surge in new plastics chemical capacity coming from low-cost producers in North America, the Middle East and China is driving an oversupply in the ...

It feels good to recycle. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from dutifully sorting soda bottles, plastic bags and yogurt cups from the rest of the garbage. The more plastic you put ...

A radical new process “vaporizes” plastic bags and bottles to help make recycled materials. American scientists say the innovative chemical procedure turns ubiquitous waste items into hydrocarbon ...

As one of the most commonly used plastics in the world, polypropylene presents a global environmental problem because of issues related to its recycling. Researchers have developed a new way of ...

For resin market knowledge, it's hard to top Kathy Hall and David Barry. Hall and Barry have been covering resin markets for more than a decade for PetroChem Wire, which now operates as PCW by OPIS ...

How long will it take the North American resin market to recover? Low inventories, production issues, and exports coupled with strong demand have led to historically high polyethylene and ...

Polyethylene plastics—in particular, the ubiquitous plastic bag that blights the landscape—are notoriously hard to recycle. They're sturdy and difficult to break down, and if they're recycled at all, ...