Company Develops Process to Break Down Plastic Waste into Chemical Building Blocks

A company called Denovia has developed a depolymerization process that converts PET plastic into its original chemical components in minutes. The technology first cuts plastic into small pieces to increase surface area, then places the material in a liquid solution that reacts at the molecular level.

Roughly 90 percent of plastic waste is not recycled. When recycling occurs, the resulting products often become unusable and the process generates high carbon emissions. Denovia states its method breaks long polymer chains that were designed to last indefinitely.

Plastic waste management is projected to cost the United States nearly $37 billion per year by 2040. Some estimates place the broader annual cost to Americans from plastic-related ecological, environmental, and health impacts above $1 trillion. The company says its process addresses the durability problem by returning plastic to usable chemical building blocks rather than attempting to reuse degraded material.