Green Chemistry Principles - Design for Degradation

Learn the basics about Green Chemistry - Principle 10, as a part of environmental chemistry. On a global scale, a lot of waste is produced. Unless the waste is recycled, it fills up in our landfills, destroys habitats, and will be a very serious health hazard. Imagine if one day, the waste that we produced can be naturally broken down by microbes in the environment, or dissolve into safer degradation materials. This principle explores such a concept. There is a new class of plastics known as bioplastics, which are made from natural monomers, such as cellulose and lactic acid, and can degrade, or break down, in the environment. Polylactic acid, or PLA, is an example of a bioplastic.