A cup made from DNA-based plastic Dayong Yang at Tianjin University, China
A new plastic made from DNA is renewable, requires little energy to make and is easy to recycle or break down.
Traditional plastics are bad for the environment because they are made from non-renewable petrochemicals, require intense heating and toxic chemicals to make, and take hundreds of years to break down. Only a small fraction of them are recycled, with the rest ending up in landfill, being incinerated or polluting the environment.
Alternative plastics derived from plant sources like corn starch and seaweed are becoming increasingly popular…
