With plastic production forecast to double by 2050, the world urgently needs a sustainable alternative.
This was further highlighted in November when petro-states effectively derailed a global deal to halt plastic pollution. However, the good news is that scientists in Japan have invented a material that might achieve the same result - an “environmentally friendly” plastic that dissolves in seawater.
In a huge step in the fight against microplastics, researchers working at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan have created a new plastic that breaks down in seawater.
Microplastics are an enormous problem right now. As the name implies, though, they’re very small - anything less than five millimeters in size - and most of them are floating around in the ocean, so they’re out of sight and out of mind (aside from the fact that they’re proliferating our food chain). That’s why a biodegradable plastic that’s relatively durable could be so important to the world’s environmental health. Despite scientists around the world screaming from the rooftops that something needs to be done, there wasn’t a whole lot being done. Until now.
This new product is claimed to be as strong as conventional plastics and takes just 10 hours to break down in seawater. In soil, the scientists say the material disappears within 10 days, leaving behind phosphorus and nitrogen.
This non-toxic plastic alternative is made of ionic monomers - large organic molecules - linked together by reversible salt bonds. “We have created a new family of plastics that are strong, stable, recyclable, can serve multiple functions, and importantly, do not generate microplastics,” said lead researcher Takuzo Aida from the RIKEN Center.
It’s hoped that the material will one day replace existing single-use plastics, which take centuries to break down. The challenge, as ever, will be producing it at scale and encouraging industries to embrace it. Or forcing them to.