Polystyrene, the polymer commonly used to make foam packaging, insulation, and food containers, is notoriously difficult to recycle. Instead of turning the material into new polystyrene products, ...

The Stache Lab at Cornell, led by Prof. Erin Stache, chemistry and chemical biology, has discovered an efficient way to decompose non-biodegradable plastic polystyrene — a material commonly used in ...

Researchers have found a way to upcycle plastic waste into more valuable products, which they say could help tackle the growing accumulation of non-degradable waste polluting our cities and ...

Polystyrene is a widespread plastic that is essentially not recyclable when mixed with other materials and is not biodegradable. A research team has now introduced a biohybrid catalyst that oxidizes ...

The idea of upcycling plastic waste into even more valuable products is a meritorious one, but some forms of the material lend themselves to this process better than others. Polystyrene lays at the ...

Chemists have discovered a way to use light and oxygen to upcycle polystyrene -- a type of plastic found in many common items -- into benzoic acid, a product stocked in undergraduate and high school ...