New biodegradable plastics are compostable in your backyard

We use plastics in almost every aspect of our lives. These materials are cheap to make and incredibly stable. The problem comes when we're done using something plastic—it can persist in the environment for years. Over time, ...

Strong and elastic, yet degradable: Protein-based bioplastics

More than eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year—a serious danger for the environment and health. Biodegradable bioplastics could provide an alternative. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research ...

Self-cleaning bioplastics repel liquid and dirt

RMIT Ph.D. researcher Mehran Ghasemlou, lead author of the study published in Science of the Total Environment, said the new bioplastic was ideal for fresh food and takeaway packaging.

Eco-friendly plastic from cellulose and water

Plastics offer many benefits to society and are widely used in our daily life: they are lightweight, cheap and adaptable. However, the production, processing and disposal of plastics are simply not sustainable, and pose a ...

Turning wood into plastic

Efforts to shift from petrochemical plastics to renewable and biodegradable plastics have proven tricky—the production process can require toxic chemicals and is expensive, and the mechanical strength and water stability ...

Sustainable 'plastics' are on the horizon

A new Tel Aviv University study describes a process to make bioplastic polymers that don't require land or fresh water—resources that are scarce in much of the world. The polymer is derived from microorganisms that feed ...

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