You've probably heard ad nauseam how plastic sucks. How it's bad for you. How it's bad for the planet. How there are microplastics in what you drink. Plastic is probably choking a turtle right now. The fish fry you consumed once had a buffet plastic. And yet, wherever you look, plastic is all around you. And underneath you. Plastic doesn't degrade. It's said that plastic waste could take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose. And even then, it doesn't just go away, it just gets smaller and smaller. And despite all the sustainability and recycling efforts, there's a feeling that plastic is permanent and it's here to stay. It's said that less than 10% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled. Maybe, that's a cynical perspective, but, how much has truly changed to topple the dominance of plastic?
Has something happened in Japan to inject a bit of hope into our lives? According to researchers there, an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional plastic has been developed. And it's said that this alternative could fully dissolve in salt water or seawater in hours without leaving any microplastics. And the claim is that this alternative would degrade in soil within 10 days, which may, even, have nutrients to benefit the soil. That just sounds cool.
