A team of biomaterial engineers, environmental resource specialists and industrial design researchers affiliated with a host of institutions across Japan has developed a biodegradable material that is clear and can hold boiling water—and it degrades in less than a year after settling on the ocean floor. Their work is published in the journal Science Advances.
A lot of biodegradable plastics were only biodegradable in industrial composters. Meaning it would still last in a natural environment for years or even decades. So seeing this just dissolve under natural circumstances seems like a game changer.
Only in the ocean. So now we have to dump our trash there to be responsible!
(I kid, I’m sure it’s biodegradable elsewhere too.)
Agreed! I def hope this becomes a common thing now.