blog posts

• Gen Z and the sustainability paradox: Why ideals and shopping habits don’t always align

  by Laura BarnesJul 17, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 6/4/25

  As the summer shopping season kicks off, all eyes are on Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 and whose purchasing power wields significant influence over market trends. Often lauded as the “sustainability generation,” a closer look reveals a complex internal struggle: despite their strong desire for eco-conscious living, many Gen Z consumers find themselves drawn to the allure of fast, affordable, trend-driven consumption. 

  Share this Story

  • Share Gen Z and the sustainability paradox: Why ideals and shopping habits don’t always align on Facebook
  • Share Gen Z and the sustainability paradox: Why ideals and shopping habits don’t always align on X

• Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning

  by Joy ScrogumJun 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Stockholm University, 2/21/25

  Hair conditioners typically contain 20–30 ingredients, many derived from petroleum and oleochemicals, raising concerns about sustainability and environmental impact. A new study published in Science Advances, demonstrates that micellar lignin gels can effectively stabilize emulsions with natural oils, reducing the need for synthetic surfactants and complex stabilizers commonly used in commercial formulations. The research team, led by Mika Sipponen at Stockholm University, sought to explore lignin, a common and renewable component in wood biomass, as a multifunctional component for hair conditioning.

  Share this Story

  • Share Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning on Facebook
  • Share Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning on X

• Recycled cements drive down emissions without slacking on strength

  by Joy ScrogumJun 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Princeton University, 3/18/25

  Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard. In addition to lowering the carbon intensity of the cement and concrete industry, the process could enable new uses for construction and demolition waste, of which concrete is a significant component. In 2018 in the United States, the total amount of construction and demolition waste was more than twice that of household waste. In their paper, published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the researchers demonstrated that mixtures containing up to 80% of this recycled cement were just as strong as conventional Portland cement by itself while generating a fraction of the carbon emissions.

  Share this Story

  • Share Recycled cements drive down emissions without slacking on strength on Facebook
  • Share Recycled cements drive down emissions without slacking on strength on X

• MCCPs detected in U. S. air for first time

  by Joy ScrogumJun 24, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: CIRES at University of Colorado Boulder, 6/9/25
  

  Using a high-tech instrument to measure how aerosol particles form and grow in the atmosphere, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder stumbled upon something unexpected: the first-ever airborne measurements of Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs), a kind of toxic organic pollutant, in the Western Hemisphere. Their results published today in ACS Environmental Au. MCCPs are currently under consideration for regulation by the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health from long-standing and widespread chemicals. While the toxic pollutants have been measured in Antarctica and Asia, researchers haven’t been sure how to document them in the Western Hemisphere’s atmosphere until now. MCCPs are used in fluids for metal working and in the construction of PVC and textiles. They are often found in wastewater and as a result, can end up in biosolid fertilizer, also called sewage sludge, which is created when liquid is removed from wastewater in a treatment plant. In Oklahoma, researchers suspect the MCCPs they identified came from biosolid fertilizer in the fields near where they set up their instrument.

  Share this Story

  • Share MCCPs detected in U. S. air for first time on Facebook
  • Share MCCPs detected in U. S. air for first time on X

• A building material that lives and stores carbon

  by Joy ScrogumJun 23, 2025 11:30 am

  Source: ETH Zurich, 6/21/25

  The idea seems futuristic: At ETH Zurich, various disciplines are working together to combine conventional materials with bacteria, algae and fungi. The common goal: to create living materials that acquire useful properties thanks to the metabolism of microorganisms – "such as the ability to bind CO₂ from the air by means of photosynthesis," says Mark Tibbitt, Professor of Macromolecular Engineering at ETH Zurich.

  An interdisciplinary research team led by Tibbitt has now turned this vision into reality: it has stably incorporated photosynthetic bacteria – known as cyanobacteria – into a printable gel and developed a material that is alive, grows and actively removes carbon from the air. The researchers recently presented their "photosynthetic living material" in a study in the journal Nature Communications.

  Share this Story

  • Share A building material that lives and stores carbon on Facebook
  • Share A building material that lives and stores carbon on X

• PFAS could be replaced with safe graphene oxide solution

  by Laura BarnesJun 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Northwestern University, 5/29/25

  Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. This innovation offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to harmful materials, enabling safer, stronger, and more eco-friendly food packaging that meets growing regulatory and consumer demands.

  Share this Story

  • Share PFAS could be replaced with safe graphene oxide solution on Facebook
  • Share PFAS could be replaced with safe graphene oxide solution on X

• Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity

  by Laura BarnesJun 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Lozano-Onrubia, G., Castillo-Pazos, D. J., Grieger, K., Wheeler, M., Grignon, E., Pazoki, F., Gallenstein, R., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Fan, F., Musa, E. N., Beena, N. C., Ahuja, H., Popoola, O., Battaglia, A. M., Kaur, G., Alahakoon, I., Chipangura, Y. E., Aransiola, E., Moumbogno Tchodimo, F. C., … Moores, A. (2025). Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 13(19), 6849–6874. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c00741

  Abstract: Chemistry is directly and indirectly related to some of the most polluting industries, making it exceptionally critical for chemists to act and develop novel solutions toward more sustainable industrial practices. In this perspective, participants of the 2023 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy describe state-of-the-art developments that the chemical industry has spearheaded to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Herein, we illustrate a variety of methods that the chemical industry has employed, ranging from technological factors, such as using catalysis, implementing AI to reduce energy-intensive processes, and developing carbon capture technology and sustainable fuels, to socioeconomic factors─incorporating circularity, society targeted innovation and education, and developing successful collaborations between the private and public sectors. This perspective aims to trigger discussions and highlight how multifaceted approaches are necessary to support the transition to a greener industrial sector.

  Share this Story

  • Share Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity on Facebook
  • Share Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity on X

• The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways

  by Laura BarnesJun 18, 2025 9:00 am

  LeClerc, H. O., Erythropel, H. C., Backhaus, A., Lee, D. S., Judd, D. R., Paulsen, M. M., Ishii, M., Long, A., Ratjen, L., Gonsalves Bertho, G., Deetman, C., Du, Y., Lane, M. K. M., Petrovic, P. V., Champlin, A. T., Bordet, A., Kaeffer, N., Kemper, G., Zimmerman, J. B., … Anastas, P. T. (2025). The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 13(1), 5–29. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c07582 [open access]
  
  Abstract: Among the most active areas of chemistry research today is that of carbon dioxide utilization: an area of research that was viewed as futile and commercially impractical not so long ago due to the energetic stability of the CO₂ molecule. The breakthroughs that largely began in earnest in the 1990s have accelerated and now make up a diverse and plentiful portfolio of technological and scientific advances and commercialized technologies. Here, “The CO₂ Tree” is presented as a tool to illustrate the breadth of potential products from CO₂ utilization and to communicate the potential of these chemical breakthroughs to address the greatest challenge that society faces today: climate change. It is intended to be useful for scientists, engineers, legislators, advocates, industrial decision-makers, policy makers, and the general public to know what is already possible today and what may be in the near future.

     

  Share this Story

  • Share The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways on Facebook
  • Share The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways on X

• Biochar-based slow-release fertilizers: A step toward more sustainable agriculture

  by Laura BarnesJun 17, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: AZO Materials, 3/27/25

  A recent study published in Scientific Reports explores the development and performance of biochar-based slow-release fertilizers (SRFs) enhanced with semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs). This approach addresses common issues with conventional chemical fertilizers (CFs), such as nutrient loss, environmental pollution, and declining soil health. The goal was to improve nutrient availability and water retention in soil to support more sustainable agricultural practices.

  Share this Story

  • Share Biochar-based slow-release fertilizers: A step toward more sustainable agriculture on Facebook
  • Share Biochar-based slow-release fertilizers: A step toward more sustainable agriculture on X

• Feat of ‘dung-gineering’ turns cow manure into one of world’s most used materials

  by Laura BarnesJun 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University College London (UCL), 5/7/25

  A new technique to extract tiny cellulose strands from cow dung and turn them into manufacturing-grade cellulose, currently used to make everything from surgical masks to food packaging, has been developed by researchers from UCL and Edinburgh Napier University. The study was published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

  
  

  Share this Story

  • Share Feat of ‘dung-gineering’ turns cow manure into one of world’s most used materials on Facebook
  • Share Feat of ‘dung-gineering’ turns cow manure into one of world’s most used materials on X