
Recycling isn’t as guilt-free as it seems. Only about 30% of the
plastic that goes into soda bottles gets turned into new plastic, and it
often ends up as a lower strength version. Now, researchers report
they’ve engineered an enzyme that can convert 90% of that same plastic
back to its pristine starting materials. Work is underway to scale up
the technology and open a demonstration plant next year.
“This is a huge step forward,” says...