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Scientists in Japan develop plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 77 points 1 year ago (8 children)

It dissolves...but into what? Sounds like a recipe for a petroleum salt water mix that's probably just as toxic as melted plastic, unless all the petroleum is removed.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

    It doesn’t seem to be based on petroleum, since they’re explicitly comparing it to petroleum-based plastics…

    There also are other non-petroleum based plastics that dissolve in water. This part is not new. E.g. polyvinyl alcohol is used widely.

    What’s new about this one is that it specifically needs salt to dissolve and they claim it’s otherwise relatively sturdy. So maybe it could be used instead of pet bottles for drinks? Or maybe they’re not quite there yet but it’s a new step in that direction…

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    There's a lot of sodium in most fizzy drinks, wonder if that rules them out for this. Or does it have to be sodium chloride specifically?

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Without checking out the details, I can say with fairly high confidence that a material that will be degraded by a sodium chloride solution will most likely also be degraded by other electrolytes as well.

    However, the electrolyte-concentration in drinks is much, much lower than that in seawater. And if it can't be used for electrolyte-containing drinks, it could be used for water bottles.

    Maybe we could use this stuff for umbrellas too? My major concern is what this new material is broken down into.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    For anyone wondering about where, just as an example, polyvinyl is: Polyvinyl acetate (i.e. PVA) is the stuff that wood glue is typically made out of. It's also the binder used for those bird seed bells.

    ...It does indeed dissolve in the water. In the rain, certainly, which any owner of a bird seed bell could tell you.

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  • [+] -10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    It's a bit of a stretch calling it a plastic, as it's not petroleum based from what I've read.

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  • [–] 31 points 1 year ago

    Is that necessary for plastic? The name comes from the Greek for "to mould". For me, anything that makes long chain mouldable polymers is a plastic. Milk makes Casein or Galalith plastic, PLA is commonly made of corn. There's a ton of bamboo fabrics that are essentially nylon made from cellulose.

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