A new range of recyclable plastics based on a low-cost material used in the powerful Super Glue adhesives have been designed by scientists at Boise University in the US and their research is published in the journal “Science Advances” of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental challenges of the modern age with discarded plastic products polluting the oceans and piling up in landfills. Although some plastics can be recycled, the recycling process is energy-intensive and inefficient.

To address these challenges, researchers Alison Christie and Scott Phillips of Boise University turned to ethyl cyanoacrylate, a cheap and easily produced monomer used in strong adhesives. The scientists designed a polymerization process that converts this monomer into ethyl polycyanoacrylate to produce a new form of plastic that is not based on petroleum materials. During various tests, these plastics showed favorable thermal properties and remained stable in hot and humid environments. These solid plastics could then be depolymerized and recycled back into their liquid monomer components. As noted, the new production process can easily be scaled up and provides a recycling efficiency of up to 93%.