Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

SUSTAINABLE POLYMERS

Alternative plastics

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Sustainability

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Plastics have posed substantial environmental and human health risks, therefore their design, manufacturing and disposal should incorporate sustainability considerations. Now a study reports success in developing hydroplastics from renewable cellulosic biomass that can be shaped in water.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1: A comparison of processing between thermoplastics and hydroplastics.

References

  1. Production of Plastics Worldwide from 1950 to 2019 (in Million Metric Tons) (Statista, 2020); https://www.statista.com/statistics/282732/global-production-of-plastics-since-1950/

  2. Schneiderman, D. K. & Hillmyer, M. A. Macromolecules 50, 3733–3749 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Häußler, M., Eck, M., Rothauer, D. & Mecking, S. Nature 590, 423–427 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang, Z., Ganewatta, M. S. & Tang, C. Polym. Sci. 101, 101197 (2020).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bandwidth Study on Energy Use and Potential Energy Savings Opportunities in U.S. Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing Report No. DOE/EE-1573 (US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 2017).

  6. Baird, D. G. & Collias, D. I. Polymer Processing: Principles and Design (John Wiley & Sons, 2014).

  7. Wang, J., Emmerich, L., Wu, J., Vana, P. & Zhang, K. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00743-1 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Roy, D., Semsarilar, M., Guthrie, J. T. & Perrier, S. Chem. Soc. Rev. 38, 2046–2064 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomass Molecular Engineering Center, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, China

    Liang Yuan

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Leman Buzoglu Kurnaz & Chuanbing Tang

Authors
  1. Liang Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Leman Buzoglu Kurnaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chuanbing Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chuanbing Tang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yuan, L., Buzoglu Kurnaz, L. & Tang, C. Alternative plastics. Nat Sustain 4, 837–838 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00750-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00750-2

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation