The currently established tools and materials for elimination of the emerging contaminants from environmental and food matrices, particularly micro- and nano-scale plastics, have been largely limited by complicated preparation/operation, high cost, and poor degradability. Here we show that, crosslinking two naturally occurring corn starch and gelatin produces ultralight porous sponge upon freeze-drying that can be readily enzymatically decomposed to glucose; The sponge affords capture of micro- and nano-scale plastics into its pores by simple pressing in an efficiency up to 90% while preserving excellent elasticity and mechanical strength. Heterogeneous diffusion was found to play a dominant role in the adsorption of microplastics by the starch-gelatin sponge. Investigations into the performance of the sponge in complex matrices including tap water, sea water, soil surfactant, and take-out dish soup, further reveal a considerably high removal efficiency (60%~70%) for the microplastics in the real samples. It is also suggested tiny plastics in different sizes be removable using the sponge with controlled pore size. With combined merits of sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and simple operation without the need for professional background for this approach, industrial and even household removal of tiny plastic contaminants from environmental and food samples are within reach.

目前建立的用于消除环境和食品基质中新兴污染物的工具和材料，特别是微米级和纳米级塑料，在很大程度上受到制备/操作复杂、成本高和可降解性差的限制。在这里，我们表明，交联两种天然存在的玉米淀粉和明胶，在冷冻干燥后产生超轻多孔海绵，可以很容易地酶促分解成葡萄糖；海绵通过简单的压制将微米级和纳米级塑料捕获到其孔隙中，效率高达 90%，同时保持出色的弹性和机械强度。发现不均匀扩散在淀粉-明胶海绵吸附微塑料中起主导作用。对海绵在自来水、海水、土壤表面活性剂和外卖菜汤等复杂基质中的性能研究进一步揭示了对实际样品中微塑料的相当高的去除效率（60%~70%）。还建议使用孔径可控的海绵去除不同尺寸的微小塑料。凭借可持续性、成本效益和操作简单的综合优点，这种方法不需要专业背景，工业甚至家庭从环境和食品样品中去除微小的塑料污染物是可以实现的。还建议使用孔径可控的海绵去除不同尺寸的微小塑料。凭借可持续性、成本效益和操作简单的综合优点，这种方法不需要专业背景，工业甚至家庭从环境和食品样品中去除微小的塑料污染物是可以实现的。还建议使用孔径可控的海绵去除不同尺寸的微小塑料。凭借可持续性、成本效益和操作简单的综合优点，这种方法不需要专业背景，工业甚至家庭从环境和食品样品中去除微小的塑料污染物是可以实现的。