It's frightening to think about how much waste gets earmarked for recycling yet ends up in a landfill anyway. It's no one's fault, really. We just don't always have the technology or the means to break down certain materials in order to use them again. And in some cases, sadly, the effort is considered not worth the return.
This article highlights a team from University of Wisconsin that found a way to reuse certain plastics that were deemed "low-value" into materials that can be recycled into more valuable products that we use every day.
Every week, millions of Americans dutifully separate their recyclables, placing their plastic waste into the designated bins with hopes of a sustainable future. Yet, the bitter truth is that conventional mechanical recycling methods fall short when it comes to materials like flexible films, multilayer substances, and many colored plastics. The staggering fact? A mere 9% of U.S plastic is ever recycled, and even then, often into low-grade products.
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