Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

AutoModerator t1_jd8y4rj wrote

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

Cdub7791 t1_jd905n7 wrote

Glass is already pretty eco friendly. It lasts for anywhere from years to centuries so rarely needs replacing, most is non toxic, most can be recycled or reused. Not saying this isn't a neat advance, just that the use case might be kind of narrow.

19

modilion t1_jd90vx7 wrote

> But the widespread use of persistent, non-biodegradable glass that cannot be naturally eliminated causes long-term environmental hazards and social burdens.

I never quite understood this idea. Most modern glass is float glass. Its made of sand, lime and dolomite.

Want to turn it back into sand? Okay. Crush it. Viola; sand.

18

sethmeh t1_jd93bdb wrote

Is there a link to the actual paper or is it the usual pay wall?

3

slantedangle t1_jd9cv1z wrote

>Researchers have developed a family of eco-friendly glass of biological origin fabricated from biologically derived amino acids or peptides, this proposed glass is biodegradable and biorecyclable

Glass doesn't need to be biodegradable and biorecyclable. You can degrade it and recycle it. Crush it up and melt it down.

Let's see some applications. Maybe it has some useful properties? Let's see some manufacturing techniques. Maybe it's cheaper to make, or requires less energy?

0

slantedangle t1_jda16af wrote

>Biorecycling should definitely be cheaper since it's just using organisms to break the substance down into constituent compounds

I don't know what the preparations and costs for biorecycling is. How is it cheaper? What are the materials and processes and who is involved?

1