For generations, humanity has engineered plastic to outlast every purpose we assign it — a material built for permanence pressed into service for moments. Researchers have now turned that logic inside out, embedding dormant bacterial spores directly into plastic so that the material holds its strength faithfully until given a signal, then dismantles itself completely within six days, leaving no microplastic trace behind. The work, published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, represents not merely a technical advance but a philosophical reorientation: durability reimagined as a programmable choi