19 October

ETH recovers up to 98% of acrylic plastic’s building blocks

ETH Zurich researchers break down acrylic plastic into reusable chemical building blocks without solvents, achieving yields of up to 98%.

Comparison of depolymerisation methods. Whitfield et al., Nature Chemistry (2026), Fig. 1. CC BY 4.0; unchanged.

The team led by Athina Anastasaki uses a single inexpensive reagent to depolymerise acrylic glass, also known as Plexiglas. The process starts just above 200°C, compared with temperatures above 400°C for conventional pyrolysis. Recovered monomers remain highly pure even when the plastic contains dyes or impurities, allowing them to be made into new material of comparable quality.

ETH announced the work on 19 October, following the paper’s publication in September. A patent application has been filed and licensees are being sought. Scaling up is the next step: the method has been demonstrated for acrylic glass, not plastics generally, and commercial profitability has not yet been established.

Figure: Whitfield et al., CC BY 4.0.

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ETH recovers up to 98% of acrylic plastic’s building blocks

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