Plastics have taken the world by storm over the last century, finding applications in virtually every aspect of our lives. However, the rise of these synthetic polymers, which form the basis of plastics, has contributed to many serious environmental issues. The worst of these is the excessive use of petrochemical compounds and the disposal of non-biodegradable materials without recycling; only 14 per cent of all plastic waste is recycled, which hardly puts a dent in the problem.
To solve the plastic conundrum, 'circular' systems need to be developed in which the source materials used to produce the plastics come full circle after disposal and recycling. At Tokyo Institute of Technology, a team of scientists led by assistant Professor Daisuke Aoki and Professor Hideyuki Otsuka is pioneering a novel concept. In their environmentally friendly process, plastics produced using biomass (bioplastics) are chemically recycled back into fertilisers.
The...