The Plastic That Vanishes and Feeds the Fish

RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science invents plastic that disintegrates in saltwater and fertilises oceans

The unaltered stomach contents of a dead albatross chick photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific in September 2009 include plastic marine debris fed the chick by its parents. Courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

You know that fantasy where plastic pollution just disappears? Like, one minute there’s a cling-wrapped sandwich and the next—it’s compost. Well, hold onto your biodegradable straws, because a bunch of scientists in Japan have basically done just that. They’ve invented a plastic that vanishes in seawater faster than you can say “Was that a Great White or just a dolphin?”

Yes, the genius gang at the RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science (which sounds exactly like where Godzilla would be born) and the University of Tokyo have conjured a magical material that not only disintegrates in saltwater within hours, but also fertilises the ocean as it goes. Imagine a plastic bag that, instead of strangling a turtle, transforms a shipwreck into an underwater Versailles. With fish.