Moonshot Research and Development Program
established to promote ambitious research and development.
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This research and development project aims to develop marine biodegradable plastics with a degradation initiation switch function to overcome the challenges of marine plastic waste and achieve Moonshot Goal 4, “Clean Earth”. This project consists of the following four development items. Item 1: Development of a new biodegradable base resin with various functions and characteristics, which can incorporate a “biodegradation initiation switch”, to apply the marine-biodegradable resin in various fields. Item 2: To perfectly control the time at which the biodegradable plastic begins to degrade, a “biodegradation initiation switch” will be developed, which triggers degradation of the material only after it is lost or spilled into the ocean. Item 3: Development of a biodegradation-rate control technology, which ensures the rapid and stable degradation in the marine environment after biodegradability is triggered. Item 4: Verification of biodegradability of the new biodegradable plastic to be developed, in the marine environment, and feedback of basic marine biodegradability data for material design to each item.
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