The Chung Lab’s biocompatible plastic substitute can be used as a replacement for beverage holder rings. (Credit: The Chung Lab at USC Viterbi School of Engineering)
With plastic waste accounting for 80% of all marine pollution and up to 10 million metric tons entering the oceans annually, scientists are urgently seeking sustainable solutions. Now, researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have made a breakthrough by developing a safer, biodegradable plastic alternative—using a mineral commonly found in seashells.
The study, published in MRS Communications, is led by Dr. Eun Ji Chung, the Dr. Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early-Career Chair and a leading expert in engineered nanoparticles and biomaterials. Chung’s team enhanced an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer, poly (1,8-octanediol-co-citrate) (POC), by infusing it with calcium carbonate—a natural mineral abundant in seashells. This biocompatible blend offers a promising substitute for traditional plastics, especially in medical and environmental applications.
Chung’s inspiration stems from her graduate research, where she explored citric acid-based biodegradable polymers for use in biomedical devices such as sutures and tendon fixation tools. By combining this earlier work with the eco-friendly properties of calcium carbonate, her team has created a plastic alternative that could reduce ocean plastic pollution while maintaining medical-grade functionality.
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This innovative material not only addresses global sustainability challenges but also opens doors for greener manufacturing in healthcare and other industries.
“In graduate school, we added hydroxyapatite, which are these calcium particles that are in your bone, and I fabricated them together, and they are now biodegradable materials that are already. FDA approved.”
“I started thinking that seashells have calcium, too. That’s why they’re stiff like bone. But they have a different kind of calcium particle. So, I basically adapted what I did and replicated it to be more suitable for an alternative plastic material.”
Chung said the citric acid polymer’s texture is sticky, like a gum. When the calcium particles are added and it is heated and cured in an oven, it forms a plastic-like material. The resulting material, POC-CC, was developed into a prototype and cut into the formation of soda can beverage holder rings that were robust enough to hold cans.
The team hypothesized that the POC-CC material would be a biocompatible plastic substitute that could degrade in marine environments while maintaining sufficient strength for industrial applications.
To test this, POC-CC was synthesized with varying concentrations of calcium carbonate. Over six months, they observed various factors including the weight degradation rate in ocean water and the effect the material had on the pH of the water after long-term incubation.
“Our results show the degradation rate increases with increased POC content, and the addition of CC maintains the pH of ocean water,” Chung said.
Demonstrating its environmental safety, the material is biocompatible and doesn’t harm marine life in the way microplastics do. Research involving a six-month incubation of green algae (Scenedesmus sp.) with the POC-CC material in simulated ocean water showed high cell viability, confirming its compatibility with marine microorganisms. Building on this success, Chung and her team are working on a second-generation version designed to degrade more quickly.
Chung also noted the material’s promising applications, particularly in producing biodegradable straws that offer greater strength than bamboo or paper and improved safety compared to reusable metal options.
