Japan has invented a plastic that dissolves in seawater "in a matter of hours."

Japanese scientists have developed a plastic that can dissolve in seawater "in a matter of hours," which could potentially help solve the problem of ocean pollution. This was reported on June 4 by the Reuters news agency.

According to the agency, scientists from the Institute of Physico-Chemical Research and the University of Tokyo have developed a plastic that decomposes "much faster" and leaves no traces.

"In a laboratory in the city of Wako near Tokyo, the group demonstrated how a small piece of plastic disappeared into a container of salt water after being stirred for an hour," the material says.

Project leader Takuzo Aida said their research had aroused "considerable interest." The scientist added that this plastic is as durable as oil-based plastic, and it is "non-toxic, non-flammable and does not emit carbon dioxide."

According to forecasts by the United Nations Environment Programme, plastic pollution will triple by 2040, resulting in 23-37 million tons of waste entering the world's oceans annually.

On February 21, Mikhail Krinitsky, a senior researcher at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and head of the Machine Learning Laboratory in Earth Sciences at MIPT, reported that floating marine debris is a serious global problem, and artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to partially solve this problem. According to the scientist, the AI reading from the cameras should be a universal method of the international level, which will allow to get rid of pollution.