“As governments and businesses consider alternatives to traditional plastics for everything from straws to food packaging, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the impact that different materials will have on various environments,” said Shunli Wang, Ph.D., postdoctoral research associate in the College of Engineering at UGA. “Our study is among the first to comprehensively examine PHA, and results show that it has a relatively fast anaerobic biodegradation rate.”