New plastic made from DNA is biodegradable and easy to recycle

[sl8]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2298314-new-plastic-made-from-dna-is-biodegradable-and-easy-to-recycle/

New plastic made from DNA is biodegradable and easy to recycle

A plastic made from DNA and vegetable oil may be the most sustainable plastic developed yet and could be used in packaging and electronic devices

TECHNOLOGY 20 November 2021
By Alice Klein

A new plastic made from DNA is renewable, requires little energy to make and is easy to recycle or break down.

Traditional plastics are bad for the environment because they are made from non-renewable petrochemicals, require intense heating and toxic chemicals to make, and take hundreds of years to break down. Only a small fraction of them are recycled, with the rest ending up in landfill, being incinerated or polluting the environment.

[Paywall]

==================================================================


https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jacs.1c08888

Abstract

Plastics play important roles in modern life and currently the development of plastic recycling is highly demanding and challenging. To relieve this dilemma, one option is to develop new sustainable bioplastics that are compatible with the environment over the whole material life cycle. We report a sustainable bioplastic made from natural DNA and biomass-derived ionomers, termed as DNA plastics. The sustainability involves all aspects of the production, use, and end-of-life options of DNA plastics: (1) the raw materials are derived from biorenewable resources; (2) the water-processable strategy is environmentally friendly, not involving high-energy consumption, the use of organic solvents, and the production of byproducts; (3) recyclable and nondestructive use is achieved to significantly prolong the service lifetime of the plastics; and (4) the disposal of waste plastics follows two green routes including the recycling of waste plastics and enzyme-triggered controllable degradation under mild conditions. Besides, DNA plastics can be “aqua-welded” to form arbitrary designed products such as a plastic cup. This work provides a solution to transform biobased hydrogel to bioplastic and demonstrates the closed-loop recycling of DNA plastics, which will advance the development of sustainable materials.

[...]

[in2herbs]

1. I keep reading about these plastic alternatives, mushrooms, etc., that are safe on the enviro

but when are we going to be able to buy them and use them and be rid of petro-plastics? Time is short, our oceans are packed with petro-plastics.

Thanks for posting.

[mopinko]

2. i've been reading about the mushroom thing for several years now.

there was a story that floated around that ikea was going to use it, but i never heard that they actually were.

[Maraya1969]

4. I have biodegradable plastic bags from Amazon now. They are great but one thing

I must remember is to not leave the garbage sitting for too long because the plastic will start breaking apart and when you pick up the bag the garbage goes all over the floor


So I take it out more regularly and put more food stuffs down the garbage disposal. But I am not consuming plastic bags anymore and I love that! They have several different brands out.

[in2herbs]

5. Our garbage is picked up once a week. Will these bags withstand that length of time before

beginning to deteriorate? All garbage must be bagged. I can't imagine what our pickup company would say if the bags deteriorated inside the 90-gal container before pick up. How do they hold up in the heat? I live in the desert. Thnx.

[Maraya1969]

8. I can't be sure because sometimes I forget how long I have left the bags in.

I would check with the manufacturer. Or maybe you could use 2 bags if it is not too expensive.

[Shermann]

3. I think a little more energy should have went into the making of that cup

[wackadoo wabbit]

6. Since microplastics have now been shown to cross the blood brain barrier,

getting rid of petrochemical-based plastics would be a very good thing.

[jeffreyi]

7. Great.

Now, figure out how to recycle lithium batteries.