Polyethylene plastics -- single-use bags and general-purpose bottles -- are indestructable forever plastics. That also makes them hard to recycle. Chemists have found a way to break down the polymer - ...

Many common kitchen items contain hidden plastics or plastic-like materials, from coatings to linings to microplastic ...

Polyethylene plastics — in particular, the ubiquitous plastic bag that blights the landscape — are notoriously hard to recycle. They’re sturdy and difficult to break down, and if they’re recycled at ...

Recently, scientists have introduced carbon monoxide (CO) into polyethylene polymer in the presence of a nickel catalyst to develop a new material that can undergo photodegradation. Image Credit: ...

So far, recycling efforts haven't lived up to the hype, with only about 9% of plastic items getting recycled. An estimated 12 ...

Using a catalyst based on ruthenium (gold ball, center), UC Berkeley chemists were able to add specific chemical groups—in this case, OH (red) - to polyethylene polymer chains, creating an oxidized ...

Seeing plastic trash while hiking inspired a Rutgers chemist to rethink why synthetic plastics last forever while natural ...

Two University of Iowa faculty members have been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation to develop new plastic ...