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This experiment will help scientists to understand the biodegradation process in seawater from Bergen, Norway.
This experiment will help scientists to understand the biodegradation process in seawater from Bergen, Norway — and allows you to watch it live.



But plastic is a useful material, and we depend on plastic products for a range of different applications. It is difficult to imagine that we could eliminate it from our lives. So what should we do?
First of all, we need to ensure that plastic waste is reduced, reused or recycled properly, so it doesn’t end up in the environment. We also need to improve how we collect waste, and reduce or eliminate littering.
But this is not always possible. So researchers all over the world are also working on new types of plastic that can be fully broken down by microorganisms. (Plastic items that only break down into smaller pieces like microplastics, or into smaller units that are not biodegradable, are not an improvement over conventional plastic.)
Could these biodegradable plastics be a solution for selected plastic products that accidentally or intentionally are released into the open environment?

In mesh test containers, the scientists have placed small samples of:
• two different kinds of biodegradable plastics
• a conventional (non-biodegradable) plastic commonly used in plastic bags
• cellulose (the most common natural polymer on earth, and a typical component of plants as well as marine algae, which naturally biodegrades in the ocean)
Scientists will compare the biodegradation rate of the biodegradable polymers with that of conventional plastics, as well as the cellulose.

The scientists want to see how long the biodegradable plastic will last in cold sea waters, compared to previous experiments which were carried out in warmer Asian and temperate Mediterranean waters. The experiment will give insight into a realistic biodegradation time.

Plastic that is designed to biodegrade in industrial composting facilities may not do so as effectively in the natural environment, whether in the soil, freshwater, or the sea. The rate at which plastic biodegrades in a specific ecosystem depends on a wide range of environmental conditions, including temperature and the presence of specific microorganisms. This is important because plastic items in the environment can cross from one ecosystem to another, and then its rate of biodegradation can change.
Plastic that is designed to biodegrade in industrial composting facilities may not do so as effectively in the natural environment, whether in the soil, freshwater, or the sea. The rate at which plastic biodegrades in a specific ecosystem depends on a wide range of environmental conditions, including temperature and the presence of specific microorganisms. This is important because plastic items in the environment can cross from one ecosystem to another, and then its rate of biodegradation can change.