Alva Review-Courier -

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Breakthroughs in bioplastics could help break down two of the world's most pressing problems at once, says a Virginia Tech professor researching to improve production of food-based, cost-effective, decomposable plastic.

At Virginia Tech, Zhiwu 'Drew' Wang is director of the Center for Applied Water Research and Innovation, and assistant professor for the Department of Biological Systems Engineering.

"People already know a lot about the food waste problem, and they should also know a lot about the plastic problem," he said. But, "Usually, people don't see the correlation...