Scientists from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to convert plastic waste into clean hydrogen using solar power and acid from old car batteries. The process transforms hard-to-recycle plastics into valuable industrial chemicals and clean fuel, potentially creating a circular upcycling system that tackles multiple waste streams at once. The team used plastic depolymerization and hydrogen generation in a single reactor to create hydrogen from the ethylene glycol monomer. However, the hydrogen and acetic acid formed in this process are less valuable than the valuable monomer, but this approach provides a sustainable entry point for other related chemistry. The researchers are now working on a test reactor to continuously convert reactants to products rather than hydrogen.