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Scientists at Northeastern University have used sugarcane waste and bamboo to make biodegradable, or "green," tableware that breaks down in 60 days -- as opposed to traditional plastic and biodegradable polymers, which take up to 450 years to break down. The next challenge is to find an energy-efficient way to manufacture their product so that it is as inexpensive as plastic and will be used more widely. "It is difficult to forbid people to use one-time use containers because it's cheap and convenient," Hongli (Julie) Zhu, a corresponding author of the research told the Good News Network. "But I believe one of the good solutions is to use more sustainable materials, to use biodegradable materials to make these one-time use containers."
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