Multiple research teams across the globe have developed biodegradable packaging materials built from plant fibers, producing films and papers that rival the mechanical strength of petroleum-based ...

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 ...

In a landfill, a plastic bottle can take more than a thousand years to break down. But a new process can transform polyethylene plastic in days, using bacteria to eat the waste and then turn it into a ...

Biodegradable plastics don’t break down on their own. Researchers found ocean microbes play a key role, and results can vary widely.

MIT researchers have identified how communities of ocean bacteria cooperate to decompose biodegradable plastics, a finding that could reshape how scientists and manufacturers think about the fate of ...

Polystyrene is made from styrene building blocks and is the most widely used plastic in terms of volume, for example in packaging. Unlike PET, which can now be produced and recycled using ...

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, ...

A Japanese research team has created a plastic that breaks down in seawater, leaving no microplastics or toxins—just safe, natural elements. (CREDIT: 2025 RIKEN) Plastics are everywhere—from your ...

It's one thing to make bio-based plastics, that is, plastics made from biological materials. It's quite another to make new bioplastics that are also biodegradable -- especially those that biodegrade ...