A new material which allows plastics to be broken down and recycled over and over again could spell an end to single use products.
Scientists claim that the plastic can be broken and separated from the additives commonly used in plastic products, leaving behind the original high quality material.
The method, developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, may eventually be a solution to the tide of plastic waste clogging up our oceans.
Most plastics are made of polymers, chains of hydrogen and carbon, gotten from petroleum products like crude oil. The polymers are composed of shorter strands called monomers.
Many plastics can't be reused due to additives mixed in with them, making them difficult to dispose of because the monomers can't separate from them.
The team were able to develop a type of plastic material, called polydiketoenamine, or PDK which when dipped in an acid bath, left behind its original monomers.
Essentially, it means the base material was able to full separate from additional chemicals t added later, giving the the plastic a new lease on life.
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A new material which allows plastics to be broken down and recycled over and over again has been dubbed a 'holy grail' breakthrough. Scientists discovered that one type of polymer can be separated from additives after it is dipped in a highly acidic solution
To give plastics certain characteristics like toughness, flexibility or colour, certain chemicals are added which from strong bonds with the monomers.
While many polymers are thermoplastic, meaning they can be melted down and reused, the additives bonded to them can make recycling them difficult.
Less than one third of 'recyclable' plastic is re-purposed after the recycling process.
Recent studies have shown that they can only be recycled at a rate of 20 to 30 per cent because of these added materials.
When plastics are mixed together for recycling, the additives make the final product lower quality, which is why most recycled plastic is termed 'downcycled'.
This means that instead of a container becoming another new container, it becomes a different, less useful product instead of completing the 'recycling loop'.
'Circular plastics and plastics upcycling are grand challenges,' said
