Current:Home > NewsResearchers create plastic alternative that's compostable in home and industrial settings-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Researchers create plastic alternative that's compostable in home and industrial settings
View Date:2024-12-24 10:48:38
Researchers at Michigan State University say they've developed a new biodegradable plastic alternative that's easier to compost.
The team created a bio-based polymer blend that’s compostable in both home and industrial settings, the university's School of Packaging announced last week after their work was published in the peer-reviewed ACS Publications journal.
Biodegradable plastics can cut down on waste from single-use plastics like straws and water bottles, said team lead Rafael Auras, who hopes the research can make a dent in the global effort to reduce plastic waste.
“We can reduce the amount that goes into a landfill,” Auras said.
Reduce, reuse, then what?Where your recycling actually goes
How researchers hope to break down substances faster
The team worked with polylactic acid, or PLA, which has been used in packaging for over a decade. Instead of petroleum (like typical plastic), it uses plant sugars and breaks down into water, carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
But PLA can only break down in the heat of industrial composters, not home composters. Even in industrial composters, PLA doesn't always break down quickly or completely.
It can take as much as 20 days before PLA starts to be digested by microbes in an industrial compost setting, researchers said.
To accelerate this process, the team incorporated what's called a "thermoplastic starch" into PLA. This carbon-based starch helps the microbes in compost more easily break down the bioplastic.
Adding the thermoplastic starch will not compromise the quality of PLA, such as the strength, clarity and other desirable features, researchers said in the release.
Additionally, the bioplastic can be composted alongside food scraps. That means you wouldn't have to rinse food out of takeaway containers or coffee out of a disposable cup before throwing it out.
The research demonstrates that compostable bio-based plastic packaging is possible, but implementation is a different story.
“In fact, many industrial composters still shy away from accepting bioplastics like PLA,” Auras said in the release.
Other research groups effort more compostable plastics
Last month, a team at the University of Washington announced it had created a bioplastic out of blue-green cyanobacteria cells, otherwise known as spirulina that can degrade on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin.
In 2021, the University of California Berkeley announced researchers had invented a way to make biodegradable plastic break down faster. The researchers embedded polyester-eating enzymes into the bioplastic itself which would help the plastic break down under the heat and water conditions that occur during composting.
Findings don't make littering OK
The team expressed concern about common misconceptions that anything compostable biodegrades under any conditions.
“If people think we develop something biodegradable so it can be littered, that will make the problem worse,” Auras said in the press release. “The technology we develop is meant to be introduced into active waste-management scenarios.”
Nonetheless, the team hopes to raise awareness around waste and change the conversation around plastic.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Powerball winning numbers for November 11 drawing: Jackpot hits $103 million
- Texas, other GOP-led states sue over program to give immigrant spouses of US citizens legal status
- A girl sleeping in her bed is fatally struck when shots are fired at 3 homes in Ohio
- Texas chief who called Uvalde response ‘abject failure’ but defended his state police is retiring
- Indiana man is found guilty of murder in the 2017 killings of 2 teenage girls
- Federal appeals court upholds Maryland’s handgun licensing requirements
- Inside the Shocking Sicily Yacht Tragedy: 7 People Dead After Rare Luxury Boat Disaster
- Anesthesiologist with ‘chloroform fetish’ admits to drugging, sexually abusing family’s nanny
- Zendaya Shares When She Feels Extra Safe With Boyfriend Tom Holland
- Canadian arbitrator orders employees at 2 major railroads back to work so both can resume operating
Ranking
- Elena Rose has made hits for JLo, Becky G and more. Now she's stepping into the spotlight.
- South Carolina sets date for first execution in more than 13 years
- Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal
- What Each Zodiac Sign Needs for Virgo Season, According to Your Horoscope
- Amazon Black Friday 2024 sales event will start Nov. 21: See some of the deals
- NASA Reveals Plan to Return Stranded Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth
- Rumer Willis Reveals She and Derek Richard Thomas Broke Up One Year After Welcoming Baby Louetta
- Expert defends security guards in death of man at Detroit-area mall a decade ago
Recommendation
-
Maine elections chief who drew Trump’s ire narrates House tabulations in livestream
-
Canadian arbitrator orders employees at 2 major railroads back to work so both can resume operating
-
Polaris Dawn mission: Launch of commercial crew delayed 24 hours, SpaceX says
-
Federal lawsuit challenges mask ban in suburban New York county, claims law is discriminatory
-
Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement
-
Dump truck leaves hole in covered bridge when it crashes into river in Maine
-
Kelly Osbourne Sends Warning Message After Boyfriend Sid Wilson Is Hospitalized With Burn Injuries
-
Striking out 12, Taiwan defeats Venezuela 4-1 in the Little League World Series semifinal