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Upcycled plastic can be turned into soap, researchers find (scrippsnews.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/science@lemmy.ml
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Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to upcycle plastic into soap. Around 120 grams to 130 grams of plastic can make 100 grams of soap.

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[–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

@NocturnalMorning @number6 Well, chemistry being what it is, if you turn it into soap it's not a plastic anymore, it's a soap.

Neither a plastic nor a soap are strictly defined categories, but still,

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I find it hard to believe there are zero plastics left after the process. I'd like to see the paper on the process. Always appreciate condescending comments though. So, thanks for that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    @NocturnalMorning I mean, a lot of people have genuinely no idea what a plastic or a soap is, but they're both hard to define and explain in 500 characters, so I'm forced into "they're different and chemistry fundamentally changes things."

    Given the general soap vs plastic chemical property list, it should be fairly easy to do a clean-up once you've got your polar component onto your soap. Some kind of oil-water extraction should work great. It all depends heavily on specifics, of course.

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