|
New way to make plastic decompose announced |
|
|
|
Written by Robert Valenzuela, News-Fire
|
|
Thursday, 29 July 2010 |
|
 There’s a new way to make plastic decompose, according to a new study published in ACS’ Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal.
It involves cooking the plastic containing bisphenol A (BPA) – the environmentalists worst nightmare.
And this new method may just be solution that scientist’s have been looking for to dispose of these plastic in an eco-friendly way.
Polycarbonate is a highly resistant plastic and, according to Mukesh Doble and Trishul Artham, 2.7 million tons of plastic containing BPA are manufactured each year.
There are studies that implies the involvement of BPAs in several cases of illnesses and these have spawned a search on how to dispose the plastics without harming the environment.
BPAs are found in screwdriver handles, eyeglass lenses, DVDs, and CDs – just to mention a few.
The polycarbonates are first made to undergo ultraviolet light and heat.
Then they are placed among three kinds of fungi, including the famous white-rot fungus, which are employed commercially as the final solution in dealing with the toughest environmental pollutants.
The result was the fungi grew well in plastics pre teated with uv and they have broken down the plastic using BPA and other additives as suppliers of energy.
After a year, there was a marked desintigration of the pre treated plastics without releasing BPA, while the untreated ones remained in almost the same circumstances as they were at the beginning.
|
