Biodegradable plastics could help alleviate the plastic waste crisis that is polluting the environment and harming our health ...

MIT researchers have identified how communities of ocean bacteria cooperate to decompose biodegradable plastics, a finding ...

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

Q: Can that plastic spoon really return to nature? A: On the face of it, biodegradable plastic is a miracle. It looks like plastic and works much like plastic. And it goes back to nature after you ...

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 ...

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 ...

In phase 1, specific microorganisms, like bacteria and fungi, colonize the surface of the plastic material. These microorganisms can either be present naturally in the environment or added ...

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 ...

Rows of biodegradable mulch. Credit: Remsberg Inc. Do you want to hear about a strange journey of a single plastic film, as I have witnessed it, first as a child in rural Nepal, and now as a vegetable ...

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, ...

Jie Wu, an engineering graduate student, was studying a type of striking white beetle found in Southeast Asia and attempting to figure out how to mimic its brilliant color when an unexpected discovery ...