The bioplastics company, with an office in Shelton, collaborated with a UConn marine sciences team to evaluate the product’s biodegradation in marine ecosystems. The study was led by Hannah Collins, a marine sciences Ph.D. candidate, and her co-author, Larissa Tabb. Ward helped oversee the study as Collins’ graduate advisor.

Straws might seem insignificant, inspiring jokes about the plastic vs. paper debate, but the plastic straw has come to symbolize a global pollution crisis over the past decade. On Monday, President Donald Trump waded into the issue when he signed an executive order to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws,

That explains the excitement around a chemical plant that will start commercial operations this year in northeast England. In principle, it can take any kind of plastic waste, including mixed plastics deemed ‘unrecyclable’,

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at encouraging the U.S. government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws. "We're going back to plastic straws," Trump told reporters at the White House as he signed the order.

President Donald Trump in a new executive order inked on Monday encouraged the U.S. government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws at a time when several countries have issued a ban on non-biodegradable single-use plastics.