{"id":96176,"date":"2026-02-21T17:35:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:37:46","slug":"russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic","title":{"rendered":"Russian Scientists Create Self-Degrading Plant-Based Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Chemists from Tula State University (TulSU) have developed a new polymer capable of naturally decomposing in the environment, a study published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment documents.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers explained that most packaging materials today \u2014 for both household and industrial use \u2014 are made from petroleum-based polymers.<\/p>\n<p>As fossil fuel resources are finite, humanity may face a shortage or even complete depletion of raw materials for plastics within the next century.<\/p>\n<p>While synthetic polymers are valued for their durability and resistance to external factors, the same qualities make disposal difficult, as burning or shredding them leaves behind non-degradable microplastic particlea.<\/p>\n<p>TulSU scientists created a new biopolymer derived from recycled tree biomass and agricultural byproducts. It can withstand temperatures up to 300\u00b0C and shows the potential to decompose naturally without leaving waste.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo produce the polymer, we used a catalytic triazole-forming reaction \u2014 part of the \u2018click chemistry\u2019 concept, a modern synthetic approach recognized by the Nobel Prize,\u201d said Bogdan Karlinsky, head of TulSU\u2019s Laboratory for the Chemical Conversion of Renewable Biomass and Organic Synthesis.<\/p>\n<p>Karlinsky stressed that the line of research needs t be expanded, as renewable materials could help move toward a circular economy and carbon neutrality, reducing the risk of future crises caused by depletion of resources.<\/p>\n<p>The project was carried out at TulSU\u2019s Youth Laboratory for Chemical Conversion of Renewable Biomass, established in 2022 as part of the university\u2019s preparation for the \u201cPriority 2030\u201d federal program.<\/p>\n<p>Funding came from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education under its targeted modification and stability study of furan derivatives \u2014 valuable products of renewable plant biomass conversion project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Chemists from Tula State University (TulSU) have developed a new polymer capable of naturally decomposing in the environment, a study published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment documents. The researchers explained that most packaging materials today \u2014 for both household and industrial use \u2014 are made from petroleum-based polymers. As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Russian Scientists Create Self-Degrading Plant-Based Plastic - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chemists from Tula State University (TulSU) have developed a new polymer capable of naturally decomposing in the environ ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian Scientists Create Self-Degrading Plant-Based Plastic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chemists from Tula State University (TulSU) have developed a new polymer capable of naturally decomposing in the environ ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T17:35:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T18:37:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771686374.316542.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Russian Scientists Create Self-Degrading Plant-Based Plastic\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-21T17:35:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-21T18:37:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\"},\"wordCount\":288,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771686374.316542.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-self-degrading-plant-based-plastic\",\"name\":\"Russian Scientists Create Self-Degrading Plant-Based Plastic - 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