Carson Bruns explores nanotech that turns plastic into fertilizer with RIO seed grant
This article was published at colorado.edu/atlas
Climate, energy and sustainability innovations are shaping the most urgent frontier of science and society—transforming how we power our world, manage resources and respond to environmental change. At the University of Colorado, groundbreaking research is driving not just new insights, but practical solutions to the global climate crisis.
Plastics are a problem. They are made with petroleum, are rarely recycled, and turn into microplastics over time—an increasingly intractable global environmental and health concern.
Current bio-based alternatives have yet to see widespread adoption for a number of reasons. Carson Bruns, associate professor (ATLAS Institute, Mechanical Engineering), aims to change all that with a new line of research in hisÌýEmergent Nanotechnology Lab focused on turning agricultural materials into bio-based plastics that can be more easily recycled, composted or even used as fertilizer.
Bruns was recently awarded aÌý2025 Research & Innovation Seed Grant from 91¸£ÀûÉç’s Research and Innovation Office for this work.Ìý
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