If you've ever been turning over your compost heap and found months-old "compostable" plastic items that were still mostly intact – well, you're not alone. New research states that 60% of such ...

Some plastic alternatives need to be put in industrial compost facilities or require acres of land for production. Sway's seaweed plastic needs neither. This startup turns food waste into bioplastic ...

The dismal results of the UK's Big Compost Experiment reveal that most so-called compostable plastics do not break down in backyard compost bins. Composting is a bit like alchemy. You put food scraps ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. It was hailed as a wonderful thing: During the oil boom in the 1950s, chemists began to render the waste coming out of refineries ...

Seemingly every corner of our world is now littered with plastics, and only a tiny percentage of it is ever recycled. To mitigate this, many companies are offering items labeled as “compostable” or ...

In a new study, scientists at the Spanish Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research and the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) argue that compostable plastics, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Greg Pryor of the composting company Recology holds a handful of processed compost at the integrated waste management's compost ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The use of plastic across all facets of human life has grown more ...

Materials scientists are cooking up environmentally friendly polymers from natural sources like silk, plant fibers and whole algae. Economics and acceptance remain hurdles. By Boyce Upholt / Knowable ...

It's no longer a secret that single-use plastic is harming the planet. Not only does the process of creating these materials emit enormous amounts of planet-warming gases, but they also can take ...