Recyclable

Although wind turbines generate electricity via an eco-friendly process, their blades end up in landfills once they wear out. That could change, however, thanks to a resin that would allow old blades to be broken down and recycled into new ones.

In a world of weird, this one ranks up there... A non-profit out of San Francisco, California, is cleaning up oil spills using the naturally adsorbent properties of human hair, woven into thick mats that soak up a gallon and a half at a time.

A new type of printed circuit board could drastically reduce the amount of electronic waste that ends up in landfills. Although most PCBs are difficult to recycle, such is not the case with this one, which turns into a reusable jelly when necessary.

Japanese scientists have developed a new type of plastic that can easily break down on demand into its base components. In seawater it starts to break down into food for marine life, and just to top it off, it can self-heal and remember past shapes.

An intriguing new glue can basically be switched on and off on demand. The adhesive sticks together when hit with one wavelength of light, and breaks apart with another, allowing it to be removed and reused easily – potentially, even underwater.

Looking to tackle a significant part of our huge e-waste problem, Jiva has developed a PCB substrate that breaks down in water for easier recovery of materials. The startup is now partnering with manufacturers to demo and evaluate the Soluboards.

For all its uses, plastic is unfortunately one of our least sustainable materials. Now, scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a way to engineer bacteria to produce raw materials that can be made into plastics that are completely recyclable.

You may have downed the blue-green algae known as spirulina while on a health kick, but now, researchers have used it to create a bioplastic that will degrade in your compost bin in the same amount of time it takes for a banana peel to break down.

While we use around five trillion plastic bags every year, disposable alternatives aren't that much better. A group of scientists, however, want us to rethink the humble paper bag, making it super strong, durable and a handy source of biofuel.

While reusing cutlery is always better than discarding it, most people aren't going to be packing a knife and fork whenever they grab some fast food. Scientists have thus designed a plant-and-wood-based material that dissolves once broken apart.

A versatile new material helps in the ongoing battle against corrosion. The polymer coating not only protects against corrosion, but highlights cracks as they form, automatically repairs damage to itself, and can be recycled at the end of its life.

Plastics are made to last, which is great while they’re being used but not so great after they’re discarded. Chemists have now developed a new kind of plastic that has all the durability of regular plastic, but biodegrades within months or even days.