Berkeley Lab scientists Brett Helms (left) and Corinne Scown hold samples of PDK plastic, a unique new material that can be recycled indefinitely –

The story behind our infinitely recyclable plastic

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2021-06-24 00:00:12

Berkeley Lab scientists Brett Helms (left) and Corinne Scown hold samples of PDK plastic, a unique new material that can be recycled indefinitely – a vast improvement over traditional plastics, of which less than 10% is recycled at all. Only a small fraction of that fraction is recycled more than once before the material is dumped.

A multidisciplinary Berkeley Lab team has been working for several years to develop a game-changing plastic that, unlike traditional plastics, can be recycled indefinitely and is not made from petroleum.

Their latest milestone was the release of an analysis showing the feasibility and potential outcomes of launching the unique material, called poly(diketoenamine) or PDK, into the market at an industrial scale.

The team found that making products out of recycled PDK could quickly become as cheap as making the same item with new plastic polymers (a very small proportion of our current plastics are recycled, so most products are made from “virgin” plastic resin), while also reducing CO2 emissions and energy requirements of manufacturing. Furthermore, the scientists plan to develop a process to create the initial PDK resin using microbe-fermented plant material, meaning that the entire lifecycle of a PDK plastic product could be low-carbon or even carbon neutral.