Okay, Chelsea, for a Fringy Mini this week,
I generally have news that I say has to be conveyed to people,
not that it's bad news.
This one I think I can actually say
is somewhat good news, in fact.
Well, wow, that's incredible.
Yeah.
And I only had to put a little qualifier of somewhat.
I feel like we're actually using this source a lot these days.
It's fizz.org.
This article was posted on October 22nd, 2023.
So very new from recording date.
And the article is by Paul Boisvert.
And it is called,
Scientists Close the Cycle on Recycling Mixed Plastics.
Okay, that sounds promising.
I feel like you're just setting me up to be disappointed.
I don't know.
It's gonna have a twist at the end.
That's gonna be like, and the earth is ending.
Yes, tomorrow, in fact.
And this was published yesterday.
No, little of the mixed consumer plastics thrown away
or placed in recycle bins actually end up being recycled.
We do know that from our previous recycling episode.
If you haven't heard it, there's a recycling episode.
I think it's called recycling topic ideas
or something like that.
And you have just listened to all episodes
if you can't find it.
Nearly 90% is buried in landfills
or incinerated at commercial facilities
that generate greenhouse gases and airborne toxins.
Neither outcome is ideal for the environment.
Why are more mixed plastics recycled?
It's usually easier and less expensive
to make new plastic products
than reclaimed, sort, and recycle used ones.
Conventional recycling of mixed plastics
has previously meant manually or mechanically
separating the plastics
according to their constituent polymers.
Addressing the issue, scientists at the Department
of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
use carefully planned chemical design,
neutron scattering, and high performance computing
to help develop a new catalytic recycling process.
The catalyst selectively and sequentially
deconstructs multiple polymers
and mixed plastics into pristine monomers, molecules,
that react with other monomer molecules to form a polymer.
A process offers a promising strategy
for combating global plastic waste,
such as bottles, packaging, foam, and carpets.
The research analysis published in Materials Horizons
compared using the new multi-purpose catalyst
to using individual catalysts for each type of plastic.
The new catalyst would generate up to 95% fewer greenhouse
gases required up to 94% less input energy
and results in up to 96% reduction
in fossil fuel consumption.
Quote, our approach involves a tailored synthetic
organo-catalyst, a compound comprised
of small organic molecules
that facilitates organic chemical transformations.
The organo-catalyst can convert batches
of mixed plastic waste into valuable monomers
for reuse in producing commercial-grade plastics
and other valuable materials.
This exceptionally efficient chemical process
can help us close the loop for recycling mixed plastics
by replacing first use monomers with recycled monomers,
said Tom Inori Saito, an ORNL synthetic polymer chemist
and corresponding author.
The quote does continue on,
today nearly all plastics are made from fossil fuels
using first use monomer made by energy-intensive processes.
Establishing this kind of closed loop recycling,
if used globally, could reduce annual energy consumption
by up to 3.5 billion barrels of oil.
End quote.
The new organo-catalyst has proven to efficiently
and quickly deconstruct multiple polymers
in around two hours.
Such polymers include those used in materials
such as safety goggles, foams, water bottles,
and ropes or fishing nets,
which together comprise about 30%
of global plastic production.
Until now, no single catalyst has been shown
to be effective on all four of these polymers.
The process provides many environmental advantages
by replacing harsh chemicals for deconstructing polymers
as well as offering good selectivity,
thermal stability, non-volatility, and low flammability.
Its effectiveness against multiple polymers
also makes it useful to be for deconstructing
the increasing amounts of multi-component plastics,
such as composites and multi-layer packaging.
Small angle neutron scattering at ORNLs,
sphalation neutron source,
was used to help confirm the formation
of deconstructed monomers from the waste plastics.
And the method scatters neutrons at small angles
to categorize the structure at different levels of detail
from nanometers to fractions of a micrometer.
There is more to it than this,
but I suggest you go read the rest of the article.
I thought it was super uplifting in ways.
And that's not usually my MO on these things.
I know sometimes I go to the recycling bin
and I pull out things that don't fit.
Just put them to the side so that it's not all garbage,
but that's promising.
I wonder how it would be implemented
and if it would be everywhere
or if they say it was too expensive.
Well, it says it's going to be cheaper long term,
but of course we will have to wait and see.
Like I've said, when you hear stories about,
oh, like that cured cancer and then nothing comes of it.
It generally ends up that the studies
either didn't go the way they wanted to,
or it ends up being too not cost effective to go about it.
So I guess cost effective shouldn't be a thing
in the face of like global warming
because we're destroying the planet.
Overall, it just-
Money won't exist afterwards.
Let's us have our planet for a little bit longer.
Yeah.
Okay, well, that's good.
Yeah, at least there is potential
for good news down the road.
This is good news now, but potential good news.
So let's raise spirits.
Raise spirits, sink ships or something like that.
I can't remember how the sayings go.
Yeah, let's sink ships.
And then we'll raise them on Friday.
48 hours underwater is what you guys get.
That's how tight you are at the end of the day.
And global warming.
Yes, anyhow, bye.