Have you ever wondered how long a plastic bottle has been laying in the floodplain? As due to natural conditions, plastic degrades as well (and yielding microplastic), the specific analysis of the material can tell us about its age! Researchers of the Budapest University of Technology and Economic made a novel discovery: a specific sub-peak exhibited a melting temperature with a strong, linear relationship to the molecular chain length of PET, providing a precise indicator of polymer degradation. This correlation represents a significant advancement in the field, as it was successfully applied to PET litter samples collected from the Tisza catchment area, enabling accurate estimation of environmental degradation levels. Moreover, this data is also important to find the potential areas where this available raw material of variable quality can be reused. Thus, before recycling, it is necessary to assess the degradation state of the PET fraction aiding the development of a marketable circular raw material derived from collected riverine plastics. This approach not only facilitates the uptake of circular economy and thus financing of river cleanups but also contributes to habitat restoration in alluvial ecosystems.

References

Ronkay F, Slezák E, Gere D, Lukács N, Gyalai-Korpos M, Molnár DA, Bocz K (2025) Thermoanalytical Approach to Assess Riverine PET Litter and Its Recycling Potential. Scientific Reports, accepted

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