Utah’s Great Salt Lake drops to lowest level ever recorded

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Utah Department of Natural Resources

(SALT LAKE CITY) — The southern portion of the Great Salt Lake in Utah has dropped to its lowest level ever, the U.S Geological Survey said Saturday. Lake levels have been declining for some time, but the record-breaking drought hitting the West has accelerated its fall in recent months.

Average daily water levels dropped about an inch below the previous record of 4,194 feet, set in 1963, with records dating back to 1847.

A series of images released by Utah’s Division of Water Resources showed the clear contrast between what the Great Salt Lake — the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere — looked like at its highest and average levels versus the new record low.

The drought numbers in Utah this year illustrate how dire the situation is there. The latest U.S Drought Monitor report released on Thursday shows nearly 100% of the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions — level 3 out of 4.

To make matters worse, more than two-thirds of the state is now in an exceptional drought — the highest drought level. Just one year ago, there were no exceptional drought conditions reported in Utah.

The impacts of the relentless drought are far from over.

“Based on current trends and historical data, the USGS anticipates water levels may decline an additional foot over the next several months,” Ryan Rowland, data chief for the USGS Utah Water Science Center, said in a statement.

The USGS and Utah officials said they continue to closely monitor lake levels and the drought situation in the state as potential impacts could cascade through not only the state’s natural resources, but also through the economy.

“We must find ways to balance Utah’s growth with maintaining a healthy lake,” Brian Steed, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement.

“Ecological, environmental and economical balance can be found by working together as elected leaders, agencies, industry, stakeholders and citizens working together,” he added.

The Great Salt Lake is a major tourist destination, with over 1.14 million people visiting the lake’s three biggest state parks — Willard Bay, Antelope Island and Great Salt Lake — in 2018, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.

Drought conditions are only expected to get worse in the coming weeks with limited chances for widespread, significant rainfall.

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‘Dating Game’ serial killer Rodney Alcala dies on death row

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Michael Goulding/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

(LOS ANGELES) — Rodney Alcala, a convicted serial killer who was on California’s death row, has died, authorities said Saturday.

Alcala, 77, died of natural causes at 1:43 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in the community near Corcoran State Prison, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.

Alcala was known as “The Dating Game” killer for his appearance as a winning contestant on the television game show in 1978.

After representing himself in Orange County court, he was sentenced to death in 2010 for the 1979 murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and the murders of four other women — 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted, both in 1977; 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb in 1978; and 21-year-old Jill Parenteau in 1979.

He was previously sentenced to death twice for the murder of Samsoe — in 1980 and then again in 1986 — though those sentences were later overturned in appeals and he was granted new trials.

Alcala also pleaded guilty to the murders of two other women in New York — Cornelia Crilley in 1971 and Ellen Jane Hover in 1977. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in 2013.

He has been linked to or suspected of murders in other states. In 2016, he was charged by Wyoming prosecutors with the murder of 28-year-old Christine Ruth Thornton, who disappeared in 1978 when she was six months pregnant and whose body was found four years later, though authorities ultimately decided not to extradite him to Wyoming for trial due to his failing health.

Alcala’s execution in California had been postponed indefinitely due to a moratorium on the death penalty instituted by the state in 2019.

A successful photographer, Alcala often would lure women and girls by approaching them on the street and offering to take their picture before attacking them, investigators said. While investigating the murder of Samsoe in 1979, investigators found hundreds of photographs in a Seattle storage locker belonging to Alcala of unidentified women, girls and boys, as well as jewelry believed to be trophies of some of his victims.

In 2010, the Huntington Beach Police Department released the photos taken by Alcala confiscated decades earlier to determine whether they may have been victimized by him. Prior to his death, he had not disclosed whether there were other victims.

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Jill Biden cheers on Team USA as Olympic Games get underway in Tokyo, Japan

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Al Bello/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden spent her final day in Japan cheering on Team USA at three Olympic events as the Games got underway in Tokyo on Saturday.

With fans unable to attend, Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were part of a sparse crowd watching the women’s 3-on-3 basketball game between the United States and France.

The first lady was patriotically dressed for the occasion, sporting an American flag top and an official Ralph Lauren Team USA Navy blazer as she cheered on the U.S. competitors to a 17-10 victory.

In a video posted by USA Basketball after the game, Biden was seen congratulating the players on their win.

“Congratulations. We’re so proud,” Biden can be heard saying.

“Thank you for coming. It means a lot,” Stefanie Dolson, a member of the team replied. “First one’s done, so we’re good now,” she joked.

Biden also cheered on USA Swimming during a competition Saturday, appearing in the stands and receiving her own shoutout from the swimmers, who chanted “Dr. Biden!”

She was also in the stands to support the U.S. women’s soccer team as they delivered a decisive, 6-1 win over New Zealand Saturday evening.

In addition to cheering on the games, the first lady kept busy on her three-day trip leading the U.S. presidential delegation.

She hosted a virtual conversation with members of Team USA, attended the Olympic opening ceremonies and held a watch party of the U.S. vs. Mexico women’s softball game for foreign service officers and their families at the U.S. Embassy.

She also penned an open letter to Team USA, congratulating and thanking them for helping to bring the country together through the games.

“Your entire nation is cheering you on and we are grateful for what you’ve given us: the chance to come together in common awe and appreciation for your accomplishments and the shared joy of rooting for our country on the edge of our seats,” she wrote in a note published by NBC News.

“In these moments, we are more than our cities or states or backgrounds. We are more than our jobs or our political parties. We are united. We are all, first and foremost, Team USA.”

Biden’s trip to Japan came as COVID-19 cases among athletes and Olympic personnel continue to rise, increasing concerns about the games and athlete safety.

She followed “strict protocols and precautions set by the White House COVID team, the government of Japan, and the Olympics to keep the public, athletes and the delegation safe,” according to her office.

She and President Joe Biden wanted to show the “highest level of support for our Olympic Athletes and the Games,” with Biden’s attendance, the statement said.

While in Japan, the first lady dined with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Mrs. Mariko Suga at Akasaka Palace and held a bilateral meeting with Mrs. Suga.

Even from afar, she highlighted the Team USA spirit back home in Washington, D.C., tweeting a photo of the White House illuminated in red, white and blue.

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One dead, six injured after boats collide on Georgia lake

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Emily Swecker/WGXA

(MACON, Ga.) — One person is dead and six others injured, including one critically, after two boats collided on a Georgia lake Saturday, officials said.

A person has been charged with boating under the influence after allegedly fleeing the scene of the deadly early morning crash, officials said.

The incident occurred before 3:40 a.m. on Lake Tobesofkee in Macon, Mark McKinnon, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ law enforcement division, said in a statement to ABC News.

All seven victims were aboard a pontoon boat when it collided with a “cigarette boat” occupied by two people, McKinnon said.

William Childs, 22, suffered an open head injury and was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Bibb County coroner Leon Jones told ABC News.

“I knew he was going to die,” Jones, who was in the hospital responding to a separate incident, said of the moment he saw Childs brought into the emergency department.

A woman in her early 20s was in critical condition in the intensive care unit with a head injury, Jones said.

The other five people on the pontoon boat sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The two people aboard the cigarette boat were not injured in the crash, officials said. They allegedly abandoned the boat and were found at a nearby residence, and the operator has been arrested for boating under the influence, McKinnon said. No further details on the arrest were provided.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Critical Incident Reconstruction Team is investigating.

Lake Tobesofkee, a recreational lake located just outside Macon’s city limits, has 35 miles of shoreline and is a popular spot for boating and fishing.

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Washington state deputy shot and killed in the line of duty

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KATU

(VANCOUVER, Wash.) — A Washington state sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in the line of duty Friday night as police launch a search for suspects.

The deputy involved in the shooting that unfolded around 7 p.m. has not been named.

Clark County Sheriff Sgt. Brent Waddell said in an initial press conference the deputy was hospitalized after being “seriously injured,” but by 11:30 p.m. the department announced the officer died.

Waddell said there were “multiple suspects” involved in the shooting and they may be “armed and dangerous.”

Two persons of interest have been detained and a search is ongoing for a third person of interest, Vancouver Police, which is handling the investigation said Saturday, according to The Columbian.

Officials did not offer details about the circumstances under which the deputy was shot.

Police were involved in a standoff with someone at a Vancouver apartment complex late into the night, local ABC affiliate KATU reported.

Several police departments searched for suspects in the area of Interstate 205 near Northeast Padden Parkway well into the night.

“This is a difficult time for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement agencies in Clark County and the surrounding Clark County, Portland metro area. Clark County law enforcement appreciates the support and understanding of the community in these tough times,” the department said in a news release. The investigation remains ongoing.

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Missouri county’s order reinstating mask mandate amid delta surge met with challenges

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Jeff Curry/Getty Images

(ST.LOUIS) — Hours after health officials in St. Louis announced they would reinstate a mask mandate amid rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state’s attorney general said he planned to challenge it.

On Friday, officials for the city and county of St. Louis said residents ages 5 and up will be required to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transportation starting Monday, regardless of vaccination status. Wearing masks outdoors in groups will be strongly encouraged under the new order, which includes exceptions while eating and drinking in restaurants and bars, and for people with disabilities.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Twitter late Friday night that he planned to file a lawsuit Monday to halt the mask mandate.

“The citizens of St. Louis and St. Louis County are not subjects — they are free people,” he said. “As their Attorney General I’ll be filing suit Monday to stop this insanity.”

St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch has also said he plans to challenge the mask mandate. Last month, Missouri enacted a new law allowing local governing bodies to halt public health orders at any time through a majority vote.

St. Louis County rescinded its health order requiring masks and social distancing in mid-May, a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance allowing fully vaccinated Americans to stop wearing masks indoors in most settings. Local officials recommended wearing masks “whenever you’re close to people who may not be vaccinated.”

“We have arrived at a point in the pandemic where we have to lean more heavily on personal responsibility to prevent further spread of the virus,” Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of health for the city of St. Louis, said in a statement at the time.

In the weeks since, COVID-19 cases have surged in Missouri, as the highly transmissible delta variant has rapidly spread. The rate of new cases in St. Louis County has increased to 20.9 cases per 100,000 per day — as high as the rate seen in early February “when we were still coming out of the enormous winter surge,” according to a report published Thursday by the county’s public health department. COVID-19 hospitalizations have also increased by 45% between July 6 and July 19.

“We’ve lost more than 500 St. Louisans to COVID-19, and if our region doesn’t work together to protect one another, we could see spikes that overwhelm our hospital and public health systems,” Echols said in a statement Friday announcing the renewed mask mandate. “The city and county health departments are taking this joint step to save lives, make sure hospitals can provide the care residents rely on, and protect our children so they can enjoy a full range of educational opportunities this year.”

“Wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance when possible, and most importantly, get vaccinated,” he added. “Vaccines remain one of the best methods to prevent severe complications and death from the virus.”

The increase in COVID-19 cases has been driven by infection in unvaccinated residents, the county has said, including fueling multiple outbreaks in daycares and camps this summer. About 44.8% of St. Louis County residents are fully vaccinated, according to state health department data.

“Vaccinations are the best way to stop the fast-spreading delta variant of COVID-19, but so far, not enough people have been vaccinated,” Dr. Faisal Khan, acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, said in a statement Friday. “We are relentlessly committed to making vaccinations more accessible and convenient. In the meantime, we need everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks in crowded indoor settings.”

“We must protect our most vulnerable residents as well as children under 12, who are not yet eligible for vaccinations,” he added.

Last weekend, Los Angeles County officials reinstated an indoor mask mandate in response to surging COVID-19 cases. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it would not enforce the health order.

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What to know about antibody tests in a post-vaccine world

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sshepard/iStock

(NEW YORK) — A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel once again warned consumers this week not to use commercial antibody tests to check whether or not they are immune to COVID-19. These tests, the panel said Thursday, are not consistent and can’t be used to measure protection against the virus.

Antibody testing is primarily used to determine if a person has previously been infected with the COVID-19 virus. Early reports suggested that people who tested positive for antibodies after either a known or asymptomatic infection had some level of immunity. Now, most health officials agree that having a positive antibody test does not mean a person is immune to contracting the virus.

“Antibodies after a period of time start to come down again, that’s not a bad thing,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health. But the presence of antibodies is only part of the story when it comes to immunity.

“Your antibodies are only one part of the immune system. You have other parts of the immune system as well, such as T-cells,” said Ellerin. “T-cell response is probably very important to protecting against severe disease because they can attack the virus directly.”

With high-profile breakthrough infections among sports teams and Olympians, many are wondering if they still have the same level of protection against the delta variant as when they first got their vaccines.

But scientists are still searching for a so-called “correlate of protection” — a marker in the blood that would reliably indicate protection. And they don’t necessarily think it’s antibodies. That means the presence of antibodies — or even more specific antibody levels — does not necessarily correlate with a person’s level of protection.

“The correlates of protection are not known, and so it is not known whether a positive antibody test after COVID-19 infection represents protection against any variant, including the delta variant,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The Food and Drug Administration strongly warns against antibody tests as a way to check for immunity among people who are fully vaccinated, writing in May that “currently authorized SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests should not be used to evaluate a person’s level of immunity or protection from COVID-19 at any time, and especially after the person has received a COVID-19 vaccination.”

Experts agreed that this warning might be confusing for some consumers. After all, antibody testing is routinely done to test for immunity against other viruses such as hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella and varicella.

But COVID-19 is different, experts said.

“It is generally not recommended to use commercial antibody tests to monitor responses to vaccines, because the meaning of these assays has not been well defined in terms of whether they can predict vaccine protection or not,” said Barouch.

We know the COVID-19 vaccines work not because of a blood test, but from large clinical trials that compared a group of unvaccinated people against a group of vaccinated people, finding that unvaccinated people were overwhelmingly more likely to become infected and fall seriously ill with COVID-19.

“What we generally think is that all of the vaccines get you to high-enough levels where even if they wane, you’re still protected against hospitalization,” Ellerin said. “Because the vaccines have done such a great job, all of them, at preventing hospitalizations, we think, based on some of the modeling studies, that you only need 3% of your average neutralizing antibody response to keep you out of the hospital.”

Unfortunately, there is no commercially available antibody test that can tell us if we are truly immune to COVID-19 or how long any immunity gained through natural infection or vaccine-mediated will last.

According to the CDC and FDA, the only acceptable time to use an antibody test to check for immunity is if you have volunteered for a carefully monitored clinical study. Some people with immune compromised conditions — like cancer or autoimmune diseases — don’t mount a good response to vaccines.

People with those medical conditions are being monitored for antibody levels using very specific antibody tests, and under the close supervision of doctors. And early data suggests that for some, a third shot might help.

No vaccine is 100% effective in preventing infections, but health officials continue to recommend vaccination as the best way to prevent COVID infections.

“Even if we find a correlate of immune protection, we want it to have clinical relevance, not just in vitro or test tube relevance,” said Ellerin. “The national guidelines and I do not recommend antibody testing for the general public, but for immunocompromised patients that’s a different story.”

Odelia N. Lewis, M.D. is a recent graduate of SUNY Downstate’s Family Medicine Residency Program and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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What to expect as surfing makes Olympics debut

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Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

(TOKYO) — Unlike most sports at the Tokyo Olympics, the venue for surfing will be decided by when and where Team USA hopefuls such as Carissa Moore and Kolohe Andino paddle out off Japan’s Shidashita Beach.

Organizers of the first-time event have scheduled an eight-day waiting period — July 25 to Aug. 1 — to squeeze in up to four days of competition based on daily conditions — wave heights, direction, wind strength.

Kurt Korte, the international surf forecaster for the Olympic surfing event, told ABC News this week that conditions off the Pacific Coast of Japan are starting to look good with signs of a tropical cyclone forming well south of Shidashita Beach that could whip up the type of waves for great competition among the best surfers in the world.

“That storm as it moves past could set us up for some pretty good surf. So that’s kind of what we’re eying right now for the initial part of the contest,” said Korte, who lives in North Carolina and works for Surfline.com, a company that provides global wave and ocean forecast.

“It’s definitely within the realm where we could see overhead surf and good conditions as this thing moves past,” Korte said. “It’s really fortunate that this is what’s happening for the opening days.”

Korte said Surfline.com has worked with Olympic officials for the past six years to determine if surfing was even possible at the Tokyo Games. The company analyzed 35 years of weather and ocean data to suggest Shidahita as the best possible spot, and Korte left for Japan this week to study the ocean and make recommendations on which days the competition should unfold.

Team USA

The inaugural event will feature 20 men and 20 women from 17 countries.

The four-member U.S. team, described as a “Dream Team” by USA Surfing, is a heavy favorite. The Americans are led by the 27-year-old Andino of San Clemente, California, who holds seven USA Surfing Champion titles, and Moore, 28, of Honolulu, the No. 1-ranked female surfer in the world who holds four World Surfing League titles.

The team also features John John Florence, 28, of Oahu, Hawaii, a two-time World Surfing League champion. The youngest member is 19-year-old Caroline Marks of Melbourne Beach, Florida, the sixth-ranked female surfer in the world.

The American team is expected to face stiff competition from Brazil, which boasts Gabriel Madina, the world’s No. 1-ranked men’s surfer, and Italo Ferreira, the No. 2-ranked surfer in the world. The Australian team, led by seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, is also expected to compete for gold.

How the competition will work

The surfers qualified for the Olympics based primarily on how well they did at previous major competitions, including the 2019 World Surfing League Championship Tour, where Florence and Moore each came out on top.

The Olympic Games will be exclusively a shortboard affair, meaning surfboards are less than 7 feet long, with pointy noses and usually three small fins on the underside.

Once the water conditions are deemed fit, according to Olympic rules, athletes will take to the ocean four at a time and compete in heats, with the first round consisting of four heats.

A five-judge panel will base scores on a scale of 1 to 10 that can include decimal points. Competitors will be judged on speed, power, snap turns and how seamlessly they flow on a wave. Judges also look for difficulty, risk and innovation of maneuvers performed, such as a barrel, or riding through the tube a curling wave makes, and aerials in which surfers ride up the face a wave and catch air at the lip.

In April, Moore wowed spectators at the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup, the second leg of the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, by nailing an aerial where she landed a reverse on the face of a wave before spinning another 180 degrees forward. The judges gave her a near-perfect score of 9.9.

In each heat, surfers will be given a 30-minute window to catch as many waves as possible but must go one at a time, with the surfer closest to the peak of a wave given preference to catch it. Participants can be docked points for violating surfing etiquette by cutting in line.

The best two scores from each surfer will decide who moves on to the next round and, eventually, the medal round, where whoever is left will compete head-to-head.

“I’m stoked, super stoked,” Andino told People magazine before heading to Japan. “I think the waves on offer in Japan will be pretty fun. It’ll be a lot of aerial maneuvers, so it should be pretty exciting to watch.”

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New York City eyes French ‘health pass’ vaccination policy

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Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared on Friday to entertain the possibility of implementing vaccination passports in the nation’s largest city.

The mayor, who had previously said vaccine passports could be an important tool if balanced with privacy concerns, encouraged businesses “to move immediately to some form of mandate,” adding that he would “seriously consider” a mandatory COVID pass for most social activities.

De Blasio compared New York to France, which announced this month that so-called “health passes” would be required for events or places that include 50 or more people, starting July 21, and for restaurants, cafes and stores starting in August. Patrons also can show a proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the previous 48 hours to gain entry.

“We have to look at making it more appealing to get vaccinated, because there are only things you can do when you’re vaccinated,” de Blasio said during an interview with WNYC Friday.

So far in France, the newly announced health passes appear to have spurred an uptick in both vaccinations and anti-vaccine demonstrations. 

Health workers in France, where at least 111,778 people have died from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, will be required to get vaccinated by Sept. 15, according to Macron.

As of Thursday, 58% of French residents had received at least one dose, and 44% were fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. By comparison, 56% of Americans had gotten at least one shot, and 49% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the same time, thousands of people in France took to the streets over the weekend to protest the health passes on the grounds that the rule was an overreach of Macron’s power and an infringement of personal freedom, adding to longstanding tension. Even prior to the pandemic, the country had a strong thread of vaccine skepticism running through it.

Researchers on vaccine confidence surveyed more than 65,000 people across 67 countries in 2015 on their attitudes about vaccines. Based on those results, researchers deemed France, where 41% of respondents said they disagreed that vaccines were safe, the world’s most vaccine-hesitant country. By comparison, the global average was 13%.

Some neighboring European countries seem similarly willing to take a hard line on compulsory vaccination. Italy announced that it would introduce its own mandatory health pass system starting Aug. 6.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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What to know about PHA biodegradable plastic and how it could help Southeast Asia

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ABC News

(SUWON, South Korea) — South Korean conglomerate CJ Cheiljedang is jumping into the global market to begin mass production of PHA biodegradable plastic, or polyhydroxyalkanoates.

PHA is considered a viable alternative to petroleum-based plastic because the new technology allows its plastic waste to decompose completely in the ocean and soil in a significantly shorter period of time.

“Plastics made from crude oil are said to take over 500 years to completely decompose, while biodegradable plastics take decades at most,” SungYeon Hwang, Head of Bio-based Chemistry Research Center at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, told ABC News. “Biodegradable plastic does not pollute the sea even if it accidentally flows into the shore.”

This next generation of plastic, PHA — made from microorganism fermentation — is currently manufactured by U.S. company Danimer, based in Bainbridge Georgia, and Japanese company, Kaneka.

CJ Cheiljedang aims to construct a 5,000 tons worth PHA manufacturing line in Indonesia by the end of this year. The global bioplastic production market is anticipated to reach up to 2.8 million tons by 2025, according to the European Bioplastics’ market analysis in 2020.

The inevitable move from petroleum-based plastic to an eco-friendly substitute has been exacerbated by Europe’s sales ban of the 10 most commonly found plastic waste items at the bottom of the ocean such as straws, takeout containers and water bottles made of polystyrene.

“With PHA, CJ Cheiljedang hopes to play a leading role in changing the paradigm of the global materials market,” CJ Cheiljedang’s communications team told ABC News. “’Going green’ is an inevitable trend in all industries.”

CJ Cheiljedang’s PHA has been certified biodegradable in industry use, household compost, soil and water by TUV Austria, an institution for biodegradability testing and certification.

From microorganism to eco-friendly plastic

Making solid PHA material begins by engineering and creating microorganisms. At CJ Cheiljedang lab in Suwon, just south of Seoul, researchers grow and nurture microorganisms and select the strongest strain through automated machines.

“These selected strains are optimally grown in a controlled environment where we tightly regulate the shaking speed and temperature,” Researcher Park Yae-seul told ABC news.

The chosen strains go through a fermentation process during which the cells are grown in bioreactors and subsequently fed with sugar made from feedstock for better production of PHA.

After a certain period of fermentation, the materials go through a refinery process where PHA are dehydrated and aggregated before being made into long strands of liquid plastic, which later dries up into solid biodegradable plastic materials.

Shortfalls of PHA

While a number of biodegradable materials have been proposed as a solution to the global plastic pollution problem, there is still much controversy over how the biodegradable plastic waste is disposed of.

“Ideally, it is best to collect used PHA-based plastic waste and process them in an industrial compost in order to meet its biodegradable characteristics,” In-Joo Chin, president of the Korean Bioplastics Association, told ABC News.

Bioplastics like PHA are, theoretically, compostable if collected and buried separately but, for now, consumers are advised to throw them away together along with general waste.

The amount of commercial waste at this point is not enough to design a separate collecting system, experts say. PHA will only become an effective eco-friendly alternative for plastic when its manufacturing reaches an adequately sized economy of scale in the future.

CJ Cheiljedang, as a starter to its next generation makeover, has recently begun wrapping their tofu bundle with vinyl packaging containing their own PHA as a test use in consumer goods. But reaching economies of scale is still a long way off.

“The cost of replacing the original vinyl packaging made out of petroleum based plastic PP with a biodegradable alternative was more expensive, but we consider the biodegradable plastic market as an economy of scale,” Technology Strategy professional Young Min Lee told ABC News. “As more and more plastics are replaced with biodegradable plastic, the production cost will naturally go down.”

“It will make a big step for a better environment if the plastic waste that has no choice but to go to general waste-straws, such as agricultural munching films, and small containers-are replaced with biodegradable plastic like the PHA,” Hong Soo-yeol, chief researcher at Seoul-based Resource Recycle Consulting, told ABC News.

ABC News’ Hyun Soo Kim contributed to this report.

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