New method of plastic recycling found in Bath study

Scientists at Bath University have discovered a new way of recycling plant-based plastics to avoid them going to landfill.

This means plastics in food packaging, along with disposable cups and cutlery, can be recycled into identical products - a process that is currently impossible in the industrial recycling of plant based plastics.

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The potential breakthrough could also mean drinks bottles would be able to be recycled to create other drinks bottles instead of being elements of other items.

The universities of Bath and Birmingham worked together on the study, using lower temperatures and environmentally-friendly catalysts to get their results.

WHAT ARE PLANT-BASED PLASTICS?

• Plant-based plastics - or 'bioplastics - are created from agricultural scraps such as corn, sugarcane, wheat or food waste.

• The term 'plant-based' refers to the source of the material and not how the resulting plastic will behave after it's been thrown away.

WHICH PLASTICS CAN BE RECYCLED?

• Technically, it is possible to recycle most plastics. However the complexity and cost of doing so has prevented this happening in the past.

• PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene) are the most widely recycled plastics. They are used to make soft drinks bottles and milk bottles.

That's the equivalent of five grocery bags of plastic waste sitting on every foot of coastline around the world.

Less than a fifth of all plastic is recycled globally.

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PLA is a plant-based plastic made from starch or crop waste such as dextrose (sugar) from corn.

Normal plastics are made from petrochemicals obtained from petroleum.

PLA is used in 'biodegradable' food packaging, disposable cutlery and disposable cups. It currently isn't recycled because it is not yet widely used.

The University of Bath say that the demand from consumers for recyclable packaging is growing as the awareness of plastic pollution is increasing.

The team have also started trialling a similar process for recycling a fibre called PET which is used for drinks bottles.

The technology is in the early stages and only being demonstrated on a small scale. Through collaborating with the University of Birmingham they are working towards increasing the scale.