Plastics

Manufacturing of chemicals has grown so rapidly that governments are now unable to assess, let alone control the risks to Earth's ecosystems, taking us beyond a safe "planetary boundary" and endangering the planet's stability.

Researchers have produced a new form of plastic with "unprecedented" mechanical properties that are maintained throughout standard recycling processes, and managed to do so using sugar-derived materials as the starting point.

A new study has shown that creatures typically inhabiting coastal areas are hitching rides out to sea aboard plastic waste, and are able to not just survive, but thrive out in the open ocean ... with untold impacts on the ecosystem.

A first-of-its-kind study has measured levels of plasticizer chemicals in a number of fast food products. The findings reveal high concentrations of a number of potentially harmful chemicals, such as phthalates, in almost all samples studied.

We are seeing some promising advances in plant-based plastics. Coca Cola's latest moves in the area bring its first ever bottle made from 100 percent plant-based plastic to the table, produced with technology it says is ready to be scaled up.

3D printers may allow small companies to produce prototypes, but the machines aren't really suited to mass production. That's where the Mayku Multiplier is intended to come in – it's billed as being the world's first desktop pressure former.

A new material from researchers in Spain and Portugal serves as another compelling example of bioactive plastic, making use of extracts from mango leaves to fend off food pathogens and ultraviolet light.

By tweaking the process by which plastic is made, scientists hope to offer functional forms of it that safely and naturally degrade in just a fraction of the time. And recent breakthroughs suggest such a future might not be all that far away.

Researchers in China have demonstrated a new form of plastic that degrades in just a week when exposed to sunlight and oxygen, which they believe could make for electronics that are easier to dispose of at the end of their lives.

Scientists in Austria have discovered a set of enzymes in the stomach fluid of cows that can break down common plastics used in textiles and packaging, offering another potential tool in the efforts to combat this environmental problem.

While bioplastics are a green alternative to petroleum-based plastics that can linger for centuries, scientists in New Zealand have come up with an innovative way to give them a second life, boosting their environmental credentials even further.

Lego has been taking steps toward more sustainable practices and has just revealed the first prototype of its classic brick element crafted from recycled plastic that meets the company's quality and safety requirements.