The sweetness of biodegradable plastics - TAU uses sugar and cornstarch to make environmentally safer plastics

摘要

Environmentalists around the world agree - plastic bags are choking our landfills and polluting our seas. Now, a Tel Aviv University researcher is developing new laboratory methods using corn starch and sugar to help sustainable plastics - those that biodegrade and are even tougher than those made from petrochemicals -compete in the industry. The answer to the problem, Professor Moshe Kol of Tel Aviv University's School of Chemistry says, is a new variety of catalysts - substances that initiate or sustain chemical reactions in other substances. His team has already developed several of these new catalysts, and it is currendy expanding its activities in partnership with die University of Aachen in Germany and the University of Bath in England.