To date, several different microorganisms have been found to participate in the biodegradation of various synthetic plastic materials following their isolation from the soil of plastic-dumping sites, ...

Bamboo is a highly renewable resource, and its cellulose fibres can be turned into a hard, mouldable plastic for use in cars ...

Microorganisms, such as fungi, bacteria, or algae, can degrade biodegradable plastics. These plastics offer greater ...

The Earth is covered in plastic—and we keep making more of it. Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez Esquivel join chemist Malika Jeffries-EL in her Boston University lab to explore just what it takes to break ...

The manufacturer of BioWrap, a pale green, single-use shrink wrap, claims the material breaks down in less than 5 years.

The world has a big plastic problem that it's yet to fix. We're trying to reduce our reliance on plastic, but that's seemingly impossible in modern society. The material is too important for our daily ...

A lot has changed in the sixty years since those cinematic words were expressed in Goodbye Columbus. The financial efficacy of a cheap material has given way to environmental concerns, after all, much ...

The enzyme-enhanced plastic film had the same strength and flexibility as a standard plastic grocery bag. UC Berkeley photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering Some single-use plastics have been replaced ...

Plastic bags that claim to decompose might not actually be degrading in the way you might expect. A recent study has shown that some "biodegradable" plastic bags are surviving up to three years. The ...

SINCE the planet has already suffered a lot at the hands of plastic pollution, it is imperative to recognise the significance of biodegradation as one of the most promising solutions to curb the ...

The tiny waxworm went from zero to hero in 2017 when researchers discovered the caterpillar could potentially help solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems: plastic waste. The ...