Biodegradable polystyrene in the works

September 4th, 2007

Biodegradable polystyrene in the works Now isn’t this just ironic - biodegradable polystyrene. Shanpu Ya and colleagues at the Polymer Science & Engineering College of Quingdao University of Science & Technology in China have apparently reached such a milestone, having applied for a patent on a biodegradable polystyrene. This material was made possible by embedding water-absorbing resin particles that expand whenever it comes into contact with water, turning the polystyrene to powder which theoretically will then be biodegradable (and ultimately, environmentally friendly). Sounds pretty neat considering the amount of non-biodegradable garbage we generate each day - it would be better to produce packaging that is recyclable in the first place isn’t it?