{"id":1363,"date":"2026-07-17T19:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2026-07-24T19:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T19:46:17","slug":"sunlight-plastic-waste-industrial-feedstock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/sunlight-plastic-waste-industrial-feedstock\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunlight and Repurposing Plastic Waste For Industrial Feedstock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChatGPTWhen people need a reassurance of any sort the person providing it will often tell them that the sun will come up tomorrow. That\u2019s to mean it will be a brand new day, and that means a brand new opportunity and that whatever they\u2019re struggling with will pass. It can also be fairly said that every day the sun will rise in the East and set in the West. These days a lot of people would be happy to have some reassurances about a healthier future for the world they live in and with new technologies there is some reason to have hope about that.<\/p>\n

When people rent a dumpster in Trenton or Colborne they often have little choice about the waste that needs to go in it, but with Load n\u2019 Lift they can be assured that it will be disposed of properly. That will be true whether it\u2019s a sunny day or not, but the reason we keep making sun and sunrise references here is because there is a new waste management and repurposing technology that has really caught our attention here.<\/p>\n

Our specialty is with disposal bin rentals<\/a> for Campbellford and the surrounding areas, but in the bigger picture of our industry it\u2019s always intriguing to take note of what\u2019s happening around the world with green technologies connected to waste management. And so this recent news about the use of sunlight to break down plastics for better and more far-reaching repurposing is blog-entry worthy for us. It\u2019s July, and that means a whole lot of sun and heat here in this part of Ontario – and wildfire smoke too unfortunately. That\u2019s another topic entirely, and better forest management is something that\u2019s truly needed all across Canada.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stay on track and look at this new technology that\u2019s been developed right here in Ontario. The University of Waterloo to be exact, where an impressively smart group of PhD students have made amazing inroads into using sunlight to more-beneficially break down the polymers in conventional plastic. Something that there is WAY too much of found in landfills all over the planet and not going away for a LONG time.<\/p>\n

Sunlight to the Mix<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These young researchers identified that a type of white-rot fungus (phanerochaete chrysosporium) has enzymes capable of generating highly reactive chemical species capable of dismantling complex carbon structures. They paired it with iron-doped carbon nitride – a semiconductor that absorbs visible light. Individual iron atoms were then anchored together to create a single-atom catalyst. Each iron atom behaves like an active site in a natural enzyme, maximizing efficiency while maintaining stability.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here where sunlight enters the formula and makes it work. Under sunlight and in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the iron sites activate the peroxide to generate highly reactive hydroxyl radicals. These radicals attack the long carbon chains that make up plastics, and notably polyethylene, polypropylene, and PET. Polyethylene is used in disposable shopping pages, polypropylene is used in disposable food containers, and PET is a huge part of what makes drink bottles such a disposal problem.<\/p>\n

The polymers are progressively oxidized and broken down into smaller molecules, eventually forming carbon dioxide (CO\u2082). But having the plastic exposed to sunlight reduces the carbon dioxide levels and then converts it into acetic acid, which is what makes vinegar sour. Acetic acid is also a major component of industrial feedstock, and that\u2019s the first example of how plastic waste can be better repurposed with this technology.<\/p>\n

Converting waste plastic into acetic acid may create a circular pathway. Light penetration, reactor design and the variability of waste plastic feedstocks all affect efficiency. Additives in commercial plastics \u2014 such as stabilizers, pigments and plasticizers \u2014 can also influence reaction outcomes. There\u2019s not much to renting a dumpster in Belleville or Port Hope, but having the smarts to make these sorts of scientific advances really does earn these folks some earned admiration.<\/p>\n

One Step<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So we tip our hats to these U of Waterloo researchers, but we can also agree with them when they say that the problem of plastic pollution will not be solved by a single technology. We still all need to make a collective effort to reduce unnecessary plastic use, and the manufacturers should improve product design. Recycling systems need to be strengthened to ensure the plastic ends up in the right place so that these approaches get their chance to do their thing.<\/p>\n

Transforming plastic waste into useful chemicals offers a complementary strategy. It reframes plastic not only as an environmental burden but also as a carbon resource. Having plastic waste become industrial feedstock is a great start and it really lends itself to the circular economy model that all countries are trying to move towards.<\/p>\n

Call Load n\u2019 Lift first and get it right for a dumpster rental in Colborne or Trenton, as well as for other nearby communities like Quinte West or Brighton. We can deliver one of our roll-off mini bins<\/a> right to your site and usually on the same day you call for it. We put a real premium on customer service here and if you have any special requests for you bin rental we can nearly always accommodate them. We have a 5% discount for CFB Trenton members and senior citizens at all times, and we are a long-standing \u2018A\u2019 member of the Better Business Bureau here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people need a reassurance of any sort the person providing it will often tell them that the sun will come up tomorrow. That\u2019s to mean it will be a brand new day, and that means a brand new opportunity and that whatever they\u2019re struggling with will pass. It can also be fairly said that every day the sun will rise in the East and set in the West. These days a lot of people would be happy to have some reassurances about a healthier future for the world they live in and with new technologies there is some reason to have hope about that. When people rent a dumpster in Trenton or Colborne they often have little choice about the waste that needs to go in it, but with Load n\u2019 Lift they can be assured that it will be disposed of properly. That will be true whether it\u2019s a sunny day or not,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.load-n-lift.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}