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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A blast of light gives Styrofoam and other plastics new purpose

Polystyrene products can be recycled into a widely used compound thanks to a light-driven reaction.
Used white styrofoam food containers stacked in a litter bin in a park.

Take-away boxes and other food packaging often contain the plastic polystyrene, which is difficult to reuse. Credit: Getty

A new processing method can transform waste polystyrene — a common type of plastic — into valuable small molecules1.

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Nature 604, 10 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00891-0

References

  1. Oh, S. & Stache, E. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c01411 (2022).

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