Turning Old Plastic Into Soap: A Clever Solution To Plastic Waste
You have probably heard a lot about plastic pollution and its impact on our environment. Well, here is some good news: scientists have found an innovative way to give new life to old plastic – by turning it into soap!
Plastics consist of molecular chains of bound carbon atoms, as do surfactants, chemical compounds that are a primary component of detergents, soaps, and lubricants. The catch is that surfactants’ chains are much shorter than those of plastics and also layered with water-attracting atoms. To transform plastic into surfactants, the scientists needed to take a creative approach.
Guoliang Liu, a chemist at Virginia Tech, came up with the idea while watching a fireplace during Christmas. When wood burns, it produces smoke made of smaller particles of wood. Liu wondered if burning plastic would work the same way. So, Liu and his colleagues built an oven-like reactor that could safely burn plastic. The bottom of the machine was hot enough to break the polymer chains, while the top was cool enough to stop the chains from breaking down too far.
After burning the plastic, the team collected the residue, a short-chain polyethylene. The scientists then turned the wax-like remnants into soap. It was the first-ever soap created from plastic.
Much of plastic ends up in landfills or litters the environment, causing harm to our planet. Only a tiny portion of plastic waste gets recycled, and much of that becomes low-quality material used in things like park benches.
What is incredible about this method is that it can work on the most common types of plastic, polyethylene and polypropylene, which make up about half of all plastic waste. In addition, it works on non-recyclable “end-of-life” plastics.
Hannah Kim For The Teen Times teen/1699323554/1613367687
1. What is the good news in paragraph 1? How did scientists make the discovery?
2. What do plastics consist of? How do surfactants' chains compare to those of plastics?
3. What did Guoliang Liu build? How was the bottom and the top of his invention?
4. What did the scientists do after burning the plastic?
1. How do you use plastic in your daily life? Give some examples.
2. Do you think plastic is harmful to the environment? Explain.
3. How do you use paper, glass, and metal items in your daily life? Give some examples.
4. What are some items that can be made from recycled products?
You have probably heard a lot about plastic pollution and its impact on our environment. Well, here is some good news: scientists have found an innovative way to give new life to old plastic – by turning it into soap!
