Have We Finally Solved The Plastic Problem?

What if every piece of plastic waste, like bottles, bags, even clothes, could be rebuilt from scratch, no sorting required? Not just melted and reshaped, but broken down to pure chemical building blocks and made new again. That's what a new wave of recycling tech promises. Northwestern University has built a catalyst that can zero in on a single type of plastic in mixed waste and break it down. No sorting, no problem. In South Korea, a 2,000°C hydrogen plasma torch is cracking mixed plastics in milliseconds, turning them into valuable building blocks for brand-new plastics. And in France, an enzymatic recycling plant is transforming previously unrecyclable polyester textiles back into virgin-quality plastic feedstock. We've been sold the...

Have We Finally Solved The Plastic Problem?

What if every piece of plastic waste, like bottles, bags, even clothes, could be rebuilt from scratch, no sorting required? Not just melted and reshaped, but broken down to pure chemical building blocks and made new again. That's what a new wave of recycling tech promises. Northwestern University has built a catalyst that can zero in on a single type of plastic in mixed waste and break it down. No sorting, no problem. In South Korea, a 2,000°C hydrogen plasma torch is cracking mixed plastics in milliseconds, turning them into valuable building blocks for brand-new plastics. And in France, an enzymatic recycling plant is transforming previously unrecyclable polyester textiles back into virgin-quality plastic feedstock. We've been sold the recycling dream for decades, but the reality? Most plastic still ends up in landfills or the ocean. Could these breakthroughs finally turn recycling from marketing lie into working reality?

Chapters
00:00 - Intro
03:13 - The Polyolefin Problem
04:19 - Nickel Catalyst Breaks Through
08:12 - Plastic vs. Plasma
12:03 - PET 2.0

#YouTubeCategory: Science & Technology