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/
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u/ThePotMonster Feb 20 '21

I feel I've seen these plant based plastics come up a few times in the last couple decades but they never seem to get any traction.

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u/hamhead Feb 20 '21

They’re used in a number of things but they can’t replace all types of plastic and, of course, cost

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u/pegothejerk Feb 20 '21

Amazon, a few chip/snack companies, and a Japanese exported of chicken, beef, and seafood already use plant based plastics in their packaging. Unfortunately there will be little attention of the conversion to more green packaging if it's done right, because a good replacement is one you won't notice. Current bioplastics will break down in 90 days, and the newest ones, like Kuraray's Plantic material, a blend of plant-based resin and post-consumer plastic, just dissolve in water.

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u/brunes Feb 20 '21

The problem is that for a huge number of plastic use cases, you specifically don't want them to break down in 90 days. You want it to be shelf stable for at least 1-2 years. Imagine you're walking through the grocery store and there is ketchup just leaking out of the bottle because the sunlight was hitting it in the wrong way.

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u/shutupdavid0010 Feb 20 '21

for items like that we should be switching back to glass, IMO.

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u/Brookenium Feb 20 '21

Glass uses FAR more energy than plastic, unfortunately. Due to its weight and the heat required to manufacture it.

Multi-use plastics are REALLY sustainable the problem is single-use plastics

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u/ravenerOSR Feb 20 '21

With glass you can make it so it is multi use. We used to do direct reuse of beer bottles at least, where they were just washed, relabeled filled and sold again. Its hard to sell products as multi use. Ketchup bottles for example.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '21 edited Mar 19 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '21

As we shift away from fossils fuels, it doesn't have to take that kind of energy. It can be perfectly clean.

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u/aywwts4 Feb 20 '21

Agreed I'm hopeful that once we reach a solar and wind tipping point things like large scale glass/aluminum/water desalination becomes a method of simply absorbing excess green energy while unlocking new reclamation and recycling industries due to reduced cost