Biodegradable solutions to world’s plastic problem emerging from natural world

The world is addicted to plastic. Four hundred million tonnes are manufactured each year. That’s the weight of 3,400 CN Towers…in plastic. To address the problem, researchers are turning to some unlikely substances: the roots of mushrooms, and byproducts from wheat and lentil production, to create bioplastics that degrade naturally and that don’t pollute our lakes and rivers.

• How plastic pollution is choking the planet, and what’s being done about it