Plastic recycling struggles today, but chemical, biological, and AI-driven breakthroughs could unlock true circular reuse and reduce global plastic waste.

One of the biggest challenges in recycling plastic is that there are several kinds of plastic that end up in our bins – and those variations in composition necessitate sorting out waste before ...

Plastic waste surrounds daily life, from food containers and grocery bags to shampoo bottles and medical supplies. Much of it ends up buried or drifting into ecosystems because recycling it is slow, ...

Recycling polyolefin plastics is inefficient and costly because their strong bonds make them hard to break down and require tedious pre-sorting. The future of plastic recycling may soon get much less ...

You toss that greasy pizza box into the recycling bin. You feel good about it. You're helping the planet, right? Well, here's the thing. That simple act might actually be making things worse.

Flexible plastic recycling is no longer just a technical challenge. It has become a business imperative for brands, retailers ...

EPFL/Illustration by Capucine Mattiussi Plastic recycling is entering a new era, thanks to smart sorting systems and chemical processes that ...

Generally, you don't need to remove paper labels from metal or aluminum cans before you chuck them in the recycling bin. When the cans are recycled, the heat applied to the metal burns away the paper ...