A new durable, biodegradable plastic breaks down in seawater, offering a potential solution to microplastic pollution. This material, based on supramolecular structures, can be tailored for different uses and is fully recyclable, enhancing its environmental benefits. New Sustainable Plastic Res
So the plastics industry has been pushing stories like this my entire life. Things never change because regular plastic is the cheaper option.
This is a news bulletin from RIKEN, a research center funded by the government of Japan.
This isn’t a story “pushed by the plastic industry”. The problem, I think, is that communication of scientific lab results is often overpraised (“It’s possible to do X!”).
It’s not wrong, but it also does not mean it’s always a good idea to do X, in the way it had been achieved in the paper.
Sadly, loud press releases does benefit funding. So it’ll continue to the detriment of your fatigue, and general distrust in r&d.