What about "Magic Glass"? Biodegradable and can also be implanted into the human body

Caixin News: Although glass is widely used due to its complete recyclability, the US Environmental Protection Agency states that only about one-third of discarded glass products are actually recycled. Considering this issue, scientists have been wanting to develop a new type of biodegradable glass.

Recently, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made progress in this regard. The experimental glass they developed is made of one of two chemically modified ingredients (amino acids or peptides). Amino acids are molecules that bind to proteins, while peptides are short chains of amino acids. The new research results of Zui have recently been published in the renowned journal Scientific Progress.

        Specifically, scientists first heat amino acids or peptide powders in an inert gas environment to exceed their melting point, but not completely reach their molecular decomposition temperature.
Then, the melted material is subjected to undercooling treatment to cool it to a temperature lower than its usual freezing temperature, but not completely frozen into a solid. Finally, the material is quenched with water to rapidly transform into a transparent solid state without crystallization.

        In laboratory tests, scientists found that this type of glass exhibits "excellent optical properties, good mechanical   properties, and flexible processability", and can be easily cast into commercial molds or 3D printed.
        Of course, it is important that when glass fragments are composted, the microorganisms in the soil can decompose them within 3 to 7.5 months, depending on the specific type of amino acid or peptide used.
        Mouse studies have also shown that this glass can be biodegraded in a harmless manner in vivo, indicating its potential for applications such as drug dispensing implants that do not need to be removed or removed after completion of work.
      Researchers say, "The concept of biomolecular glass goes beyond commercial use of glass or plastic and may lay the foundation for sustainable green living technologies. However, this type of biomolecular glass is still in the laboratory stage and is far from large-scale commercialization."