Breaking News English

Plastic has been a [blight / bright] on the landscape and a deadly threat to wildlife for decades. Environmentalists have issued many [please / pleas] for us to reduce the amount of plastic we use or [switch / twitch] to biodegradable alternatives. One solution to this problem may be at [band / hand] . Scientists have developed a [frame / form] of biodegradable plastic. This means that the billions of plastic bags, cups, straws and [utensils / utensil] that we dispose [of / to] each day could be "compostable" - they could decompose and break down as naturally as [organically / organic] waste. The scientists are from the University of California, Berkeley. They say they have invented a plastic that could break down [within / wither] a few weeks, rather than centuries, using [justly / just] heat and water.

The new, biodegradable product [revolves / involves] embedding polyester-eating enzymes into the plastic during the production [process / progress] . When these enzymes are exposed [of / to] heat and water, they eat away at the plastic and reduce [them / it] to lactic acid. This provides nutrients for the soil when composted. Professor Ting Xu said up to 98 per cent of the plastic her team made degraded [onto / into] small molecules. She said: "We are basically saying that we are on the [right / left] track. We can solve this continuing problem of [single-user / single-use] plastics." She added: "Look at all the wasted stuff we [thrown / throw] away - clothing, shoes, [electronics / electrical] like cellphones and computers. We are taking things from the earth [at / to] a faster rate than we can return them."