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Plastic recycling breakthrough?

IBM and Stanford University are claiming a breakthrough in the recyclability of PET.

As Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs installs equipment that will make it the first bottled water company in North America to self-manufacture its own resin, IBM and Stanford University are announcing a PET recycling breakthrough of their own. According to packagingnews.co.uk, scientists from IBM and Stanford are working on a technology that uses organocatalysts to reverse the polymerization process and regenerate monomers in their original state.

IBM Fellow Josephine Cheng tells packagingnews.co.uk that β€œThe development of organic catalysts brings more versatility to green chemistry and opens the door for novel applications, such as making biodegradable plastics and improving the recycling process.

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