New process vaporizes plastic bags and bottles, yielding gases to make new, recycled plastics

Chemists have developed a catalytic process that turns the largest component of today's plastic waste stream, polyolefin plastic bags and bottles, into gases -- propylene and isobutylene -- that are the building blocks of polypropylene and other types of plastics. The process uses inexpensive solid catalysts that can be scaled to industrial production, making this a potentially viable means of creating a circular economy for these throw-away plastics.