r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 20 '21

Chemistry Chemists developed two sustainable plastic alternatives to polyethylene, derived from plants, that can be recycled with a recovery rate of more than 96%, as low-waste, environmentally friendly replacements to conventional fossil fuel-based plastics. (Nature, 17 Feb)

https://academictimes.com/new-plant-based-plastics-can-be-chemically-recycled-with-near-perfect-efficiency/
72.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/Aberbekleckernicht Feb 20 '21

If it dissolves in water, there aren't any microplastics coming from it. One of the largest issues coming from microplastics is that they are insoluble and can build up in places damaging to the environment.

If this resin based material were to simply disintegrate in water, that would be a problem. The "post-consumer plastics" part is worrying.

1

u/Auxx Feb 20 '21

If it dissolves in the water then you ARE getting micro plastics in it.

3

u/Aberbekleckernicht Feb 21 '21

Microplastics are not small molecules. They are usually macroscopic plastics less than 5 mm in their longest dimension. It depends on what the parent comment means by "dissolve." If they mean this in the chemical sense, then this is something of a good thing because dissolved molecules are available to be broken down by bacteria and do not pose the unique problems that microplastics do. If they simply mean that the material disintegrates, then there could be microplastics released in that disintegration.

For organic - carbon based - material , dissolving in water can be, and I will take a risk by saying is usually a good thing for disposal.

1

u/AnnaLookingforGlow Feb 20 '21

Actually, it is good for the environment if they degrade in water (not dissolve but chemically break down). Microplastics are too large and stable to biodegrade but too small to crash out of liquids.