This archive report was first published on 11 December 2019.
Published on December 11, 2019, a team of researchers in Singapore has made a breakthrough in tackling the global plastic waste problem.
According to the scientists, they have successfully converted plastic into 'formic acid', a chemical that can be used in power plants to generate electricity, using a catalyst that does not harm the environment or cost a lot of money.
The researchers from Nanyang Technological University mixed plastic with chemicals to form a solution, which was then broken down by artificial sunlight in lab experiments.
The plastic was broken down in just six days, and the scientists hope to replicate the process using real sunlight in the future.
"We are able to turn plastics, which are of course polluting the oceans, into useful chemicals," said Soo Han Sen, who led the two-year research project.
"We're hoping to turn this into a fully renewable process that's carbon neutral," he added.
Other methods of recycling plastic typically require it to be melted down using fossil fuels, which produce climate-damaging greenhouse gases.
