Overflowing plastic waste has become a global crisis, presenting many environmental threats. Discarded plastic waste can take over a century to decompose, while burning it produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, as well as other pollutants. Plastic waste can find its way into rivers and oceans, where it degrades into microplastics that are toxic to aquatic life and ecosystems.
Global production of petroleum-based plastics has risen from 2 million metric tons (m.t.) in 1950 to 350 million m.t. in 2015 — and this number is projected to double again within the next 20 years. While plastic has become integral to modern society, its production and disposal are widely mismanaged. In the U.S., less than 10% of plastic is recycled.
At the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), chemical engineers have developed an upcycling process that converts polyethylene, a common plastic component in packaging and grocery bags, into valuable, long-chain alkylaromatics. These compounds can be turned into biodegradable surfactants for household cleaners, cleansers, and shampoos, as well as other materials.
“We didn’t realize how big a problem we had until recently, when China decided to stop accepting our waste plastic,” says Susannah Scott, a chemical engineer at UCSB....
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