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Ocean wastes and overflowing landfills have drawn a lot of attention to the plastic waste we put in our environment. In response, communities around the world work hard to reduce, reuse and recycle. But what does it mean to recycle something? A research team led by Gualiang “Greg” Liu, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, is working to expand the frontiers of plastic recycling.
Many of us are comfortable throwing metal cans or glass jars into the recycling bin. But plastics are a little different. Not every recycling plant is equipped to handle every type of plastic. This is because the chemistry and composition of plastic materials are different and each type requires recycling.
In a perfect world, there would be recycling plants all over the world equipped to handle almost any type of plastic imaginable. But we’re not there yet, in part because some plastics are so difficult to recycle that we have yet to develop effective and practical techniques for processing them.
Polystyrene is one such challenging material. Polystyrene, known as the main component in Styrofoam, is widely used but rarely recycled. Many municipal recycling facilities educate residents (including those in Blacksburg) not to recycle polystyrene at home.
Currently, the main method for recycling polystyrene is to economically implement the process, which often gives a low-quality product. In other words, if a recycling plant tries to use polystyrene on a large scale, it needs financial support, such as a government subsidy, or the operation may run out of money and shut down.
One solution to this problem is to improve the recycling process to make it economically viable, or even better, economically attractive. With his experience in polymer chemistry and as an associate of the Institute for Macromolecule Innovation, Liu was able to lead his team to do just that.
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