Scientists have developed and created a biodegradable plastic in seawater that will help reduce the increasingly serious plastic pollution in the oceans.
According to senior engineer Wang Gexia at the Technical Research Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the synthetic polyester material used to make this new plastic can decompose in seawater in a short period of time. time lasts from a few days to several hundred days, does not pollute the environment.
Plastic pollution is becoming more and more serious in the oceans. (Photo: straitstimes.com).
Engineer Wang said that for a long time, people have only focused on “white pollution” on the ground, and plastic pollution in the ocean has only attracted people’s attention as more and more reports about it. The phenomenon of animals living in the ocean has died in recent years.
The scientists combined non-enzymatic hydrolysis, hydrolysis and biodegradation processes to create this new material.
This research was recently selected as one of 30 winning projects at the competition of future innovative technologies in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China.
Earlier on September 4, it was reported that the Korean government announced that it would completely eliminate single-use plastic straws and cups from coffee shops and other public places by 2027 in an effort to reduce amount of waste that is difficult to recycle. Over-packaged, unnecessary products in large supermarkets, grocery stores and parcels will also be restricted.
This policy aims to apply waste reduction steps to the entire process of production, consumption, management and recycling, in contrast to the previous mechanism which mainly focused on recycling after use. Through these measures, Korea is expected to reduce waste by 20% and raise the actual recycling rate from 70% to 82% by 2027.