Earlier this year, Virginia Tech researchers heated discarded PVC for 3 hours at 158°F. Today, the process can turn the hard-to-recycle plastic into industrial lubricant, offering a new use for the 40 million tons produced each year

PVC is used in daily-use products ranging from pipes and credit cards to plastic bottles and electrical cable insulation. Around 40 million tons of the material are produced each year, but its additives and high chlorine content make it one of the more difficult plastics to recycle. The vast majority ends up in landfills.

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a process that breaks down discarded PVC and produces a thick oil that can be used as a lubricant. The study, published in Nature, describes how the plastic can be converted into a different useful material rather than being treated only as waste.