Researchers at UC San Diego have spent many years developing a biodegradable plastic alternative made from algae. This algae-based polymer has already been used to make surfboards, flip flops and walking shoes. Rethinking Polyester Polyurethanes: Algae-Based Renewable, Sustainable, Biodegradable and Recyclable Materials (Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry), published by Elsevier, details the basic science of…

The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has developed an AI-based mass spectrometric technique capable of determining the monomeric sequence of a polymer. This technique may be useful in gaining a deeper understanding of basic polymeric structures, facilitating the development of new materials and helping solve plastic recycling problems.

A recent interdisciplinary study which involved the ICM-CSIC presents a new methodology to observe the molecular details of enzymes that degrade single-use plastics. The work opens up new avenues to engineer enzymes for biotechnological applications for plastic recycling and plastic pollution mitigation.

Today, plastic is difficult to recycle because plastic waste is a mishmash of many different types of polymers with different chemical compositions as well as different additives. A Danish trio of partners including Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark is developing super-high-resolution, hyperspectral cameras that can determine both chemical composition and additives in…