Australian scientists have developed a new technology to recycle all types of plastics to help solve the world’s waste problem.

Sydney University professor Thomas Maschmeyer’s Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) can reuse stockpiled plastic as fuel or remake it into new plastic through a form of chemical recycling that changes plastic at a molecular level using hot water at a high pressure to turn it back into oil.

The company, Licella, is opening its first commercial recycling plant in the UK.