Plastics are synthetic or semi-synthetic materials made from polymers, which are long chains of molecules typically derived from petroleum, natural gas, or other organic sources. Plastics are ...

Walking down the street, or visiting the park or beach, there’s one thing you’ll almost inevitably see: pieces of plastic packaging—washed up on the sand, tangled in a hedgerow, lying in the gutter.

A prototype sensor being developed by sensor manufacturer IDEC (Sunnyvale, CA) uses light to differentiate among three different types of plastic. Aimed at the recycling industry for accurately ...

In contrast to common perceptions, plastic is in no way near one material. Rather, it is a combination of many materials (polymers) with different chemical compounds and additives such as pigments or ...

How Are Plastic Bottles Made? Plastics are made from oil or natural gas, which are made of molecules called hydrocarbons. When you heat hydrocarbons to very high temperatures, they break down into ...

Researchers have spent the last few years trying to find which type of plastic biodegrades the fastest in a marine environment as millions of tons of plastics find their way into our oceans every year ...

Kaitlin Sullivan is a health and science journalist based in Colorado. She's been part of multiple award-winning investigations into health topics including the international medical device industry ...

Biodegradable plastics can break down naturally through the action of living organisms such as bacteria. They are made from renewable sources such as corn starch or sugar cane and don’t linger in the ...

Scientists have analysed 10,000 marine animal autopsies to understand how plastic ingestion leads to death. The study found seabirds face extreme risk after swallowing just 23 pieces of plastic, ...