Cold sintering may rescue plastic, ceramics, battery components from landfills

Recycling does not necessarily prevent an item from eventually ending up in a landfill, according to Enrique Gomez, interim associate dean for equity and inclusion and professor of chemical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering. Instead, recycling simply delays its end of life. Plastic bottles that are recycled and then turned into carpet, for example, eventually end up in the landfill when the carpet gets worn out and is thrown away.