According to foreign media new atlas, whether it is harmful to marine animals, blocking their haslet when they are ingested, or forming a huge floating "garbage block", marine plastic garbage is a huge problem. However, products in the form of what is considered a better marine biodegradable plastic may bring new hope.
First, some groups have previously developed plastics that are harmlessly biodegradable in the marine environment. However, according to research from Osaka University in Japan, they have three main disadvantages: their quality is worse than conventional plastics, their production costs are more than twice as high, and they can only be manufactured in relatively small quantities.
However, a team led by Osaka University associate professor Taka-Aki Asoh and professor Hiroshi Uyama has developed another type of transparent plastic, whose main ingredients are cellulose nanofibers and starch, both of which come from plants. Thanks to a proprietary production process, the final product is proven to have excellent water resistance and high strength, and it also has high biodegradability when floating in seawater for a long time.
In addition, since the plastic is not oil-based, its production should not produce any greenhouse gases. "Because we can develop marine biodegradable plastic sheets by combining familiar materials, such as starch and cellulose, because these materials are cheap and simple to manufacture, we can expect that the developed materials will soon be put into practical use," said asoh. "We have high hopes that our materials will help solve the growing global problem of marine garbage accumulation and have a significant social impact."
