Plastic fork made of sugar? It could help minimize harmful microplastics

Sugar-fed microbes are helping make forks, straws, and packaging that compost in 6 months

A company in Woburn, Massachusetts, is turning polymers made by sugar-fed microbes into items like forks, straws, and food packaging, aiming for them to compost in about six months instead of persisting for decades as microplastics. Here's what to know At its Woburn research facility, CJ Biomaterials uses microbes fed with sugar to create plant-based polymers known as polyhydroxyalkanoates, or PHAs, which the company then collects. According to …

Plastic fork made of sugar? It could help minimize harmful microplastics

Alternatives to traditional plastics made of fossil fuels are seen by some as one of many solutions needed to confront global plastic pollution.