Using Plant-based Plastic to Help Fight Climate Change

Guest: Joseph Rollin, Postdoctoral Researcher, US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory Most of the plastic that surrounds us, fills our landfills and floats in giant trash islands on the ocean is made from oil. And most of that plastic doesn’t recycle all that well. Plastics made from plants may be the solution in the long-run. They biodegrade faster and can also be recycled more completely than traditional plastic. There’s also the intriguing possibility that plant-based plastics could be used to permanently trap harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.