'Growing Impact' explores the role coal could play in difficult-to-recycle plastics

Executive Briefing & Key Highlights

A new approach to plastic recycling being explored at Penn State could make the process more efficient by using tiny particles of coal, according to researchers. On the latest episode of "Growing Impact," researchers discussed how the technique uses laser light to generate heat at the molecular scale, potentially allowing plastics to be broken down into their basic building blocks and reused.