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Date Time To Design Truly Compostable Plastic, Scientists Take Cues From Nature Ivan Jayapurna, a UC Berkeley materials science and engineering graduate student, preparing a sample film of a new biodegradable plastic. (Credit: Adam Lau/UC Berkeley) Despite our efforts to sort and recycle, less than 9% of plastic gets recycled in the U.S., and most ends up in landfill or the environment. Biodegradable plastic bags and containers could help, but if they’re not properly sorted, they can contaminate otherwise recyclable #1 and #2 plastics. What’s worse, most biodegradable plastics take months...

 E-Mail IMAGE: A modified plastic (left) breaks down after just three days in standard compost (right) and entirely after two weeks. view more  Credit: Christopher DelRe, UC Berkeley Biodegradable plastics have been advertised as one solution to the plastic pollution problem bedeviling the world, but today's "compostable" plastic bags, utensils and cup lids don't break down during typical composting and contaminate other recyclable plastics, creating headaches for recyclers. Most compostable plastics, made primarily of the polyester known as polylactic acid, or PLA, end up in landfi...