Shoes that are edible to sea creatures could help tackle plastic pollution

Shoes that are edible to sea creatures could help tackle plastic pollution

Source: vigourtimes

9/23/2022

Leather can take 40 years to biodegrade, and rubber soles take up to 80 years. Meanwhile every piece of plastic you have ever worn still exists on the planet.

That means the 600 million shoes that are thrown out every year in the UK could still be around in thousands of years – but your next pair may not take so long.

This is because scientists from the University of California San Diego have created a plimsoll that starts to biodegrade after just four weeks underwater.

Its materials are designed to be broken down to their original chemicals by sea creatures, which they can then consume as nutrients.

The researchers say that the replacement for plastic could tackle the pollution currently plaguing the world’s oceans.