Researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in the US are working to develop environmentally friendly plastics, which can literally disappear within four months of being discarded. What the research team is constructing is a new breed of biodegradable and bioavailable plastics in an effort to reduce the tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in America's landfills each year. Bioavailable plastics contain substances that can be absorbed by living systems during their normal physiological functions.