Closed-Loop Recycling of Plastics Enabled by Dynamic Covalent Diketoenamine Bonds

Interesting. Let's hope it comes true.

We're still left with billions of tons of plastic waste from today but, it's a start.

There's still the problem of a contaminated waste stream and the cost associated processing....but it does seem to be a step in the right direction...

A lot of these plastics have made food stay fresher much longer also helping reduce food spoilage and waste. Plastic versus glass requires a lot less energy to get the product to it's destination. Waxed cardboard is difficult to recycle and you are now using another petroleum product for packaging, etc. etc. etc.

Corporate greed. Corporations are owned by the stockholders, usually people just like you and me.

Don't worry about filling space with trash. It's very expensive to put it there. Don't count out Mother Nature. She's a lot more powerful than most give her credit for.

Whats so difficult about picking up a glass and tipping the contents into your mouth, forget the straw (unless you have a broken jaw or motor neuron disease.)

Funny you mention that- I didn't even think about it.

I had a broken jaw when I was a teenager and it's not fun. Especially when you're trying to suck pureed stews and milkshakes day in and out for 6 weeks. Cheap straws just didn't cut it.

That's why they call them sanitary straws, bypass the germs....Who wants to put their mouth on a cup that has been exposed to handling in a commercial setting...

I do think the closed loop plastic is a major breakthrough in the right direction. We cannot replace all plastics with waxed cardboard. What they are talking about so far with the PDK are recyclable casings for your cell phone or cpu - plastics which at this point are not at all recyclable. If the PDK can be developed to create different types of plastic which fulfill all the valid uses for plastic, this would be ideal. By valid uses, I mean where plastic is ideally suited by comparison with other materials, for reasons which for one application or another may include: hygiene; shipping weight; smallest ecological footprint, etc.

Solving the packaging problem is not as simple as banning plastic bags, apparently:

https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-worse-than-plastic/

Are you suggesting everybody should go naked?....or just wrap themselves in old plastic bags?

I think the take home message is to use what you already have, and keep re-using until shreds.

The reusable shopping bags that became available at my usual supermarket here about 15 years ago were the non-woven fabric type, and they have lasted pretty well. Only in the past year I've had to replace a few that were finally disintegrating. Estimating shopping trips twice a month, 24 reuses per year, 240 in ten years, it's not impossible to get the footprint down there, depending on the product. Friend of mine has a cotton bag she got from her grandmother, and is pretty sure it's going to last another 40 years. There are a few things on the list that don't cut it and that would include any product that doesn't hold up to the necessary number of reuses. Paper bags look pretty challenging at ? 43 re-uses ???? despite how pleasantly natural they seem.

As for clothing the old jeans I wear around the house are darn close to naked, not much left but the patches. I'll be buying new jeans that are sturdy and top quality, and will last as long as possible. Cotton and leather are the two favorite fibers for me, I don't intend to change. I didn't give up leather when it became politically incorrect and I'm still wearing the same jacket I was then! While more dutiful citizens have sent dozens of jazzy synthetics to the landfill in that time. Footprints and ethics are rarely as simple as it seems.