Eugene Chen and Miao Hong, scientists from Colorado State University, have invented what’s been called “the world’s first biopolymer that can be fully converted back to its original Gamma-butyroalctone monomer without leaving behind any waste, thus making it fully re-usable.”
 
The two have been experimenting for years on this project, which others in the scientific community had said would be impossible to achieve.
 
With Chen and Hong’s discovery, all plastic goods could now be made fully recyclable and biodegradable.
 
A material can be fully biodegradable if its polymers can be consumed by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. A material is said to be fully depolymerizable if it can be converted back to the original monomer from which the material was created.
 
The scientific discovery was announced in the journal Nature Chemistry, and the scientists have applied for a provisional patent. Following this discovery, they received the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for their invention.