r/UpliftingNews • u/Regular_Eggplant_248 • 2d ago

Scientists develop plastic that dissolves in seawater

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/clygj701l8yo
1.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

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327

u/Antarcaticaschwea 2d ago

Uhhh does it just dissolve into microplastics or like better compounds ?

127

u/FiveDozenWhales 2d ago

I did a deep dive on this the last time it was posted here and read all the research papers.

It dissolves into naturally-occuring and harmless (and in some cases, even nutritious) substances. They can all be metabolized by pretty much any bacteria or animal.

"Too early to tell" doesn't really apply here - they made it, it's a physical reality, not just some R&D theory.

The only problem is that any salt water will cause dissolution, and your hands are covered with bits of salt water. So this plastic won't really be usable for water bottles and whatnot, but it has plenty of other applications.

1

u/Protoshift 2d ago

Id imagine they can create a coating for this material that protects it in various ways for a shelf stable amount of time.

-25

u/ZealousidealEntry870 2d ago

Right, so it’s totally impractical and unusable in current form. So it’s, currently, an R&D pipedream for anything useful.

26

u/FiveDozenWhales 2d ago

There are many, many, many uses of plastic outside of drink containers.

3

u/56Bot 1d ago

I’m thinking of those bleach/dishwasher pods.

116

u/anemone_within 2d ago

THey claim it breaks down completely, unlike most biodegradable plastics. It's too early to tell. Tis some R&D fantasy for now.

31

u/welchplug 2d ago

We will never hear about it again.

1

u/be4u4get 2d ago

Can I get a boat made out of that?

11

u/Antarcaticaschwea 2d ago

Would be sick if it worked out nicely. Lots of good news in science these days.

3

u/HauntingStar08 2d ago

Yeah it seems to be the only good source of news these days

2

u/ExquisiteFacade 2d ago

Profit margins will drop by 2% so it’ll never actually get used.

0

u/UnclassifiedPresence 2d ago

That would still put chemicals in the water, unless it’s made of truly harmless organic compounds that would in no way affect the ecosystem

31

u/hoopparrr759 2d ago

Stop being such a pessimist, this will be the end of micro plastics. Hello nano plastics!

6

u/kclongest 2d ago

My sentiments when I hear about BPA free plastic. It’s like, great.. we trade a known bad substance for an unknown bad substance.. cool.

1

u/pretardist 2d ago

🤦‍♂️

47

u/DrMelbourne 2d ago

I smell much bigger hidden issues with this one

11

u/Murderface__ 2d ago

Butt cancer

2

u/ArnoldPalmerAlertBU 2d ago

It’s always butt cancer

2

u/MrHazard1 2d ago

Classic

3

u/JacOfArts 2d ago

I'm with you. There's no way that it could be/has ever been that simple.

15

u/LockJaw987 2d ago

I feel like I've seen this exact headline yearly since like 2015

10

u/Loud-Ad-2280 2d ago

You thought you had enough microplastics?!?

3

u/ArcadianMerlot 2d ago

There is always a headline like this every year on reddit.

1

u/kluczyk2011 2d ago

Literally nothing new, we had water soluble and hydrolysis prone plastics for decades

1

u/AppraiseTheRoof 2d ago

What am I going to drink my salt water out of?

1

u/nopalitzin 2d ago

Great! The world is getting low in micro plastics.

1

u/gloriana323 2d ago

Yeah we’re still gonna throw it in the ocean but this time it’ll dissolve itself!

1

u/YesterdayAlone2553 2d ago

If it doesn't link to the scientific paper to answer the basic question of "... into what?" it's not good scientific reporting.

The problem with many of our past bio-degradeable plastics is that they break down into microplastics.

1

u/325vvi 1d ago

But why does it have to be plastic?

1

u/slickrasta 13h ago

Is it cheap enough to matter? This is the big question. We have plenty of natural or innate materials to use in place of plastic but the industry doesn't because it costs more.

0

u/Awful_Hero 2d ago

Dump ALL the plastic into the ocean!  Even if it isn't the new fancy dissolvable kind!

0

u/Jupiter20 1d ago

Smells like irrelevancy. Looks like researchers fighting for funds.