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Expanding waste to reduce waste
16 June 2009
Polymer waste from discarded TV and computer screens can be transformed into a high value material that could be used in biomedicine, say UK scientists.
Recycling broken LCD screens will reduce the burden of electronic waste on the environment
James Clark and colleagues at the University of York expanded the structure of waste polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) from liquid crystal display (LCD) screens to form a mesoporous material with a high surface area. Because PVA is biocompatible, Clark claims the expanded PVA could be used for enzyme immobilisation, tissue scaffolds or drug delivery, all of which require high surface area substrates.
- Martin Goosey, Loughborough University, UK
LCD waste from electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste stream in the European Union. Although PVA is not a major environmental hazard, wasting it consumes a non-renewable resource, explains Clark. 'Reuse in new LCDs is unlikely, so we need to find new applications for this plastic and thus avoid turning a useful material into a burden on the environment,' he says.
Martin Goosey, an expert in electronics at Loughborough University, UK, celebrates the research. 'There are increasing numbers of LCDs being discarded and this technique provides an exciting new method for recovering materials that would otherwise go to waste,' he comments.
Clark's team is currently looking at other waste streams to identify more potentially useful components.
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Link to journal article
Expanding the potential for waste polyvinyl-alcohol
Andrew J. Hunt, Vitaly L. Budarin, Simon W. Breeden, Avtar S. Matharu and James H. Clark, Green Chem., 2009, 11, 1332
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