Plastic debris in natural areas is worrying because it harms aquatic life and damages ecosystems. Material scientists are looking for natural alternatives to plastic for manufacturing and packaging purposes.

Scientists at the University of Maryland recently created a new way to find natural alternatives to plastic. They propose a new method that combines advanced molecular research and machine learning techniques. This approach was published in the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The co-author of the report, Prof. Po-Yen Chen, told Tech Xplore that a trip to Palau in the Western Pacific in 2019 served as the impetus for this investigation. It was sad to see how plastic pollution affected marine life. Floating plastic films tricked fish and sea turtles into thinking plastic debris was food. Chen said that it inspired him to use his knowledge of the environmental problem and focus on finding a solution when he started his research lab at UMD.

The traditional and previously used approaches to finding sustainable plastic substitutes are ineffective and time-consuming. They often produce low-quality results, identifying materials that are biodegradable but do not have the same qualities as plastic.

Chen's machine learning model is the basis for a new way to identify plastic substitutes in a recent paper.

This technique can help find materials for manufacturing and industry faster than traditional methods. Chen collaborated with colleagues Teng Li and Liangbing Hu to use his machine learning technique to find plastic alternatives.