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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 “The 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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