Plastic is an essential material in the modern world, but it's also environmentally costly to produce and a major pollutant. A material called pyridinedicarboxylic acid, or PDCA, could help address at ...
Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to make biodegradable packaging stronger while using less energy in the process. The research team from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and ...
Plastic feels like a modern industrial material, but this story shows how it can begin with something as ordinary as milk, ...
Plastic pollution is one of the most defining environmental challenges of our time. Despite efforts to recycle or responsibly dispose of plastic, vast garbage patches in the oceans continue to grow, ...
About half of all of the plastics in the world have been created in only the past 15 years, and we are now swimming in the stuff. This tough material is made from petroleum-based chemicals, and is ...
Strips of plain TPU (top) and "living" TPU (bottom) at different stages of decomposition over five months of being in compost. A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry’s ...
Plastics make up approximately 5–12 % of global waste generation, constituting around 20–30 % of waste by weight. Alarmingly, about 60 % of plastics end up as plastic waste (PW) in the environment. 2 ...
Biodegradable plastics are often marketed as a simple solution to the world’s plastic pollution crisis. From food containers to shopping bags, these materials promise to disappear naturally after ...
A new study published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering has compared the impacts of traditional and biodegradable microplastics on pea growth and soil health. The research shows ...