Nature teaches us that people and animals -- the products of nature -- do self deteriorate into the raw form from which they are constructed, as the Bible says: "dust to dust". So inspired material pioneers are now engineering plastics and compounds that 'age' and 'fall apart' in due course, so they don't contaminate and spoil the environment with everlasting man-made products. To accomplish this goal, a lot of chemistry insight will have to be discovered, and a lot of inventiveness is called for, but given the risk of becoming a trash-can planet, this objective is worth addressing. D&G Sciences -- Innovation Productivity Corporation was engaged to take a preliminary look and to apply its expertise to offer credible estimation of the required R&D effort. So far, we have some good news regarding plastic containers for perishable content: we have good technology today to spur such containers to deteriorate into harmless form. To build plastic devices that would last longer and only later would start deteriorating is a greater challenge. Some composite materials have already solution ideas and others are very daunting. As of now it looks like 2030 is a credible target year for a meaningful achievement for this objective of self-recycling products and smart materials auto-deteriorating into harmless form.
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