Starting with sugars, sustainable plastics have been made that perform as well, or even better, than commonly available plastics, are degradable and easy to recycle. Unlike other recyclable plastics, their mechanical properties don’t worsen after reprocessing. Those from sources like corn or sugarcane starch are typically biodegrade only in industrial compost facilities and need to be recycled separately from other plastics. The new plastics can be used in a variety of things including food packaging. This matters in light of the report that plastics will outpace U.S. coal plants by 2030 in terms of their contributions to climate change.
Source: Connor J. Stubbs et al. Sugar-Based Polymers with Stereochemistry-Dependent Degradability and Mechanical Properties. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2022
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