UMass Dartmouth opens biodegradability laboratory

The University of Massachusetts has opened a new laboratory at the School for Marine Science and Technology on its Dartmouth campus, which will serve as a research, learning and product development facility when it comes to the biodegradability of materials.

The new laboratory is called the Biodegradability Laboratory and with its creation UMass Dartmouth aims to explore the “development of biodegradable and ocean-safe plastics and other materials by accelerating their path to market with a focus on increasing sustainability,” as per a news article on the university website.

The laboratory provides the university research capacity for evaluating plastic biodegradability by measuring biodegradation of products in environmental systems where a lot of plastic waste continues to be found such as landfills, oceans, wastewater, soil and compost.

Partners on the project include the material science company PrimaLoft which specialises in developing sustainable high-performance insulations and fabrics, along with Radical Plastics of Beverly, Paramount Planet Product, UMass Boston, UMass Lowell, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Boston-based SeaAhead, and the U.S. Army Soldier Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center.

The laboratory was designed under the critical supervision of a variety of experts who provided feedback, including chemical engineers, environmental scientists and textiles engineers from partner PrimaLoft.

"UMass Dartmouth is a perfect location for this new facility, to build on the university’s strong marine science and engineering focus, coupled with the South Coast’s strong heritage of textile innovation," said Pat Larkin, Deputy Director, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, in a statement.