Can We Create a Truly Biodegradable Plastic? | Out of Our Elements

The Earth is covered in plastic—and we keep making more of it... Subscribe! ↓ More info below ↓ PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: What can we do about our plastic waste dilemma? Out of Our Elements hosts Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez Esquivel join chemist Malika Jeffries-EL in her Boston University lab to explore just what it takes to break down familiar plastics like legos and styrofoam. They also learn why plastic isn’t always recycled—even when it does make it into those familiar blue bins. Biodegradable plastics on the market today may sound like a fantastic solution to our problem. But there’s a caveat: Outside of special composting facilities, they’re difficult to break down and they can still introduce harmful microplastics into the environment. Berkeley scientist Ting Xu shows how her lab is innovating a truly biodegradable plastic tha