\nNarayan explained to me, is that they sentence plastics to but a single reincarnation.
\nOnce you’ve turned plastic bottles into, say, carpet you can’t transform the
\ncarpet into T-shirts. (If you really want to all the technical details—and you
\nhave a degree in chemistry—you can read the paper<\/a> Narayan and his
\ncollaborators published Tuesday in the journal Macromolecules<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“These metal oxides are immortal catalysts,” says Narayan,
\nwho leads the science and technology team at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in
\nSan Jose. That means the metal catalyst
\ncontinues to contaminate the plastic making it unsuitable for re-use. “But
\nif you have a catalyst that dies,” he adds, “you don’t have that issue.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And what kind of catalysts die? Organic ones, of course. By
\nsubstituting organic catalysts for metal oxides, Narayan’s team ended up
\ncreating polymers with new properties.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some plastics can be designed to biodegrade while others can
\nbe made so that they can be transformed into entirely new materials in their
\nsecond lives. For instance, all those discarded water bottles might be reborn
\nas body panels on electric cars or components of an iPad. And when those
\nproducts reach the end of their useful lives—which could be a matter of
\nmonths given the planned obsolescence of consumer electronics gadgets—they
\ncan be turned into something else.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“It gives you a lot more knobs to turn—a path to polymer
\narchitectures that are quite different and that have properties plastics
\ncurrently don’t have,” enthuses Narayan, who also works on developing smart
\ncity technology. “I think it’s going to revolutionize synthetic chemistry.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here’s a video from IBM that helps to explain the new plastic breakthrough.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, just to be clear, Big Blue’s scientists didn’t set out
\nto save the world when they began their research. Rather they originally sought
\nto develop new polymers to be used in microelectronics.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“IBM Research partners with others to explore applications
\nof that expertise to problems and applications beyond information technology,
\nwhich is how we began to look at other novel applications” for the polymers,
\nsays Sara Delekta Galligan, a company spokeswoman.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So far, this is all still being done inside the lab. But <\/p>\n The Plastiki. Photo: Todd WoodyA few weeks ago, I had the chance to take a look at another <\/p>\n Berthed in Sausalito, Calif., the boat’s hulls are composed of thousands of plastic bottles with the bulk of the boat made from panels of self-reinforcing polyethylene terephthalate that were produced in a process invented by the Plastiki team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Plastiki’s mission is to raise awareness of plastic pollution but also to be a floating demo project of how plastic can be repurposed for novel uses, like building a boat. The message: Plastic isn’t going to disappear so the challenge is to how to minimize its production through recycling and reuse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “We had to look around and innovate,” says De Rothschild,standing on the Plastiki, next to a row of solar panels, a biodiesel-powered emergency motor and the boat’s masts made from old irrigation pipes. “We didn’t want to say plastic is the enemy. The question is, is it our inability to understand the material that’s to blame or is the material that’s to blame?”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Or maybe we’re just the problem. As my Grist colleague David Roberts has pointed out, technological innovation needs to go hand-in-hand with getting people to change their behavior<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For while IBM’s organic plastics and De Rothschild’s approach will help alleviate the poisoning of the planet by plastic, the best plastic bottle is, of course, the one you don’t buy.<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n A rich guy’s guide to saving the oceans<\/a><\/p>\n Ask Umbra’s 6 video tips to green take-out food<\/a><\/p>\n Ask Umbra on engagement rings, straws, and napkins<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNarayan says IBM is talking to potential partners about commercializing the
\ntechnology and expects to have a pilot project producing plastic within two
\nyears. (And if you think the rest of the world isn’t interested in this technology,
\nconsider that the King
\nAbdulaziz City for Science and Technology<\/a> in Saudi Arabia has already
\nhooked up with IBM to develop recyclable polyethylene terephthalate, PET.)<\/p>\n
\ninnovative approach to plastic when I went onboard the Plastiki<\/a>. In a few
\nweeks, British banking heir and environmental adventurer David De Rothschild
\nand his crew will set sail from San Francisco on the catamaran made of plastic
\nand head to Sydney through the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, the Texas-size
\nmass of plastic trash that sits in the middle of the ocean.<\/p>\n