New research by scientists at the University of York has uncovered a way of recycling a key ingredient in LCD television and transforming it into a substance suitable for…medical use.

Apparently this key ingredient – polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) – has a number of handy uses. It  can be used in the formation of tissue scaffolds which assist various parts of the body in regeneration. One can imagine.

Oh, it’s not so strange, really. The PVA is also useable in pills and wound dressings that are designed to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body.

In fact, this is an important discovery given that there are around  “2.5 billion liquid crystal displays already reaching the end of their life,” according to Professor James Clark, director of the York Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and one of the authors of the research.

Currently, when these television sets are thrown away, their LCD panels are usually incinerated or buried in landfills. But this new finding indicates that at least one part of each television can be recycled.

Now all the scientists have to do is find ways to utilize and recycle all the remaining television parts. Perhaps in time for flu season?

Image: mysi anne

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