It’s difficult to believe, but virtually all the plastic that has ever been produced is still right here on earth. Millions of tons are in our landfills, oceans, our food, and worst of all in our bodies. Even newborns have it in their systems from the moment they are born. It’s also in the breast milk they drink.

Traditional plastics, made from petroleum, are virtually indestructible. It is cheap to make, easy to mold into shape and extremely durable. This pervasive material is part of every aspect of our lives. The Japanese government estimates about 150 million tons of plastic waste currently drift throughout our oceans, a figure that is rising by about eight million tons each year.

More bad news for us and our planet is that it can take 100’s to 1000’s of years for even a flimsy ziploc bag to break down. Far worse is the fact that plastic never fully disappears. Instead, it breaks down into ever small particles, which still last forever and are easily ingestible by every living creature on our planet. It is becoming more difficult to find companies willing to accept plastic for recycling.

In a significant development, Japanese scientists have developed a durable, non-petroleum based, biodegradable plastic that dissolves in seawater (and other saline solutions) within three to six months. In soil, it only takes about 10 days to break down into nitrogen and phosphorus, natural ingredients which can be helpful, in small amounts, acting like a fertilizer for plants and microbes. In larger amounts, nitrogen and phosphorus could be somewhat hazardous, so recycling facilities might still be needed to guard against excessive amounts building up and harming the environment.

The developers of this new plastic claim that even if some of these new plastics do end up in the ocean, they would be considerably less harmful than petroleum-based products. The new plastic is also non-flammable and non-toxic.

How is this new product made? Without getting too technical, by slightly tweaking the two main ingredients, sodium hexametaphosphate (a common food additive) and guanidinium sulfate, (a glue-like substance) the scientists were able to produce plastics that had varying degrees of hardness, thickness and strength. This means it can be customized according to purpose: hard scratch-resistant plastics, rubber silicone-like plastics, strong weight-bearing plastics are all possible. The new plastic can be used in 3D printing and medical or health-related products, too.

So hurray for science and research. While they helped create the dangers of an over-abundance of plastic in our environment, now they are developing ways to help fix it.