Maximpact Blog

Closing the Cycle on Single-Use Plastics

RICHLAND, Washington, February 25, 2023 (Maximpact.com Sustainability News) – Petroleum-based plastic waste is an untapped resource that can serve as the starting material for useful durable materials and for fuels. But looking at a mountain of plastic waste and seeing its value “requires an innovator’s mindset, a chemist’s ingenuity, and a realist’s understanding of the economics involved,” says an international team of scientists in describing their new research.

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Wait: Don’t Toss That Food, It Could Fuel the Car

“When we eat, our bodies convert food into energy that fuels our lives. But what happens to the energy stored in the 80 billion pounds of food thrown away annually in America?” asks Steven Ashby, director of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. As part of advancing sustainable energy solutions, scientists at the lab he runs are converting tons of food waste into clean, renewable biofuel that could power cars, planes and trains.

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