Scientists Develop New Plastics That Break Down Safely Instead of Polluting

From SciTechDaily

Yuwei Gu was on a hike in Bear Mountain State Park in New York when an unexpected idea took shape.

As he walked, he noticed plastic bottles scattered along the path and drifting on a nearby lake. The clash between the scenic landscape and the plastic trash caused the Rutgers chemist to pause and reflect.

In nature, many essential substances are made of long chains of repeating units called polymers, such as DNA and RNA, and these natural polymers eventually break apart. Man-made polymers like plastic, however, tend to remain in the environment instead of breaking down. Why is that?