Recycling made both national and local headlines this week, with the State of California suing Exxon-Mobil for promoting what they call the "myth" of recycling, and Akron city officials celebrating the fact that they're actually now finally making money on recycling, because residents have gotten so good at keeping trash out of their recycling bins.

The two competing narratives; i.e.; "Recycling doesn't work, and it is all part of a money-grubbing plot on the part of oil companies", and "Hey this stuff really works and its great for the planet", point to the deeper truth about how much we rely on plastic, how bad it is for the environment and our health, and how badly we all want to do something about it.

The good news is that scientists and researchers here in Akron are gearing up to transform industry worldwide, by creating sustainable, earth-friendly polymers, and they're doing so with the help of a  nearly $100 million dollar cash infusion from the State and Federal governments.

In addition, the US EPA has taken action over the past couple of years to  monitor and regulate extremely toxic chemicals that are used to make some types of plastic. These so-called "forever chemicals" known by their acronyms, PFAS, and PFOA, have been used for decades in hundreds of products that we use every day, including Teflon pans, and food packaging.

As you'll hear now, it is all connected; oil, toxic chemicals, cancer, thyroid disease, immune disorders, and the tons of plastic slowly degrading but never really disappearing from our landfills, streams, and oceans.

So, that's where Akron being named a Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub, comes in. Find out how research being done here, can one day maybe save the planet one plastic bottle at a time.