Researchers at RIKEN have developed a biodegradable plastic that dissolves in seawater, preventing microplastic pollution. The material, mad
From the article:
Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) have developed a durable plastic that won’t contribute to microplastic pollution in our oceans. The new material is as strong as conventional plastics and biodegradable, but what makes it special is that it breaks down in seawater. The new plastic is therefore expected to help reduce harmful microplastic pollution that accumulates in oceans and soil and eventually enters the food chain.
The rigid yet biodegradable plastic outperforms not only alternative biodegradable options, but plastic itself for mechanical strength.
Dawei Zhao at Shenyang University of Chemical Technology in China’s far northeast has developed a method for turning cellulose from bamboo into a rigid yet biodegradable plastic that outperforms not only alternative biodegradable options, but plastic itself for mechanical strength and thermo-mechanical properties.
His method takes cellulose from bamboo and subjects it to zinc chloride and a simple acid to break up the complex polysaccharide bonds that hold this plant fiber together. Next they add ethanol into the soup of smaller molecules, and from that derive a plastic for use in injection, molding, and machining manufacturing techniques.
One major drawback is the bamboo plastic’s inflexibility, which limits its incorporation into the full gamut of products that petroleum-based plastics can fulfil. On the other hand, however, these are often the plastics that remain in the ecosystem longest, and are the hardest to recycle. Therefore replacing them still represents a valuable contribution to reducing the overall plastic burden in the environment and waste streams.
Bioplastics derived from biomass show promise as sustainable alternatives to petrochemical plastics, but their adoption is hindered by their
Nopales are more than just a delicious food. For years, scientists have been using the food staple to create eco-friendly products that coul
Nopales are more than just a delicious food. For years, scientists have been using the food staple to create eco-friendly products that could transform industries. The environment is at a tipping point, and finding new, plant-based products is crucial. Thanks to the lovely nopal, we are getting more ways to help create a sustainable future with nopal plastic.
Nopal plastic could change our fight for the environment
Nopales are known for gracing the plates of Mexican cuisine for thousands of years. Dating back to pre-Columbian times, the Aztecs domesticated the plant and used it for food and medicine. It is popular belief that the nopal was the first plant to be domesticated in Mesoamerica, highlighting its cultural and culinary significance in Mexico.
The plant continues to be a source of pride and food for Mexico. Over the centuries, people have continued to refine the use of nopales outside of food. Scientist Sandra Pascoe Ortiz spent time in a lab working with the plant to determine more uses for it. Through her research, she was able to use the sugars from the nopal juices to create biodegradable plastic.
Pascoe Ortiz states, “The nopal cactus has certain chemical characteristics with which I thought it could be feasible to obtain a polymer, that if it was combined with some other substances, all of them natural, a non-toxic biodegradable plastic would be obtained.”
She continued: “The process is a mixture of compounds whose base is the nopal. It’s totally non-toxic, all the materials we use could be ingested both by animals or humans and they wouldn’t cause any harm.”
The nopal is proving to be an impressive plant
Desserto is a Mexican company that manufactures leather created from nopales to be used in fashion. Using the plant, the mexican entrepreneurs started to create a vegan answer to leather. The vegan leather is a sustainable alternative, and growing the plant serves as its own sustainable work as a carbon sink.
The vegan leather is just like the real thing, and fashion designers and houses are using it for shoes, handbags, you name it. Karl Lagerfeld, H&M, and Fossil have all used Desserto vegan leather for products.
Plastic waste is a major issue impacting our oceans
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), millions of tons of plastic end up in the ocean. In 2010, NOAA estimated that 8 million metric tons ended up in the oceans. For comparison, that is the same weight as 90 aircraft carriers.
Since the plastic doesn’t dissolve, it becomes an environmental hazard for ecosystems and animals. The presence of large amounts of plastic can kill sea creatures through ingestion when they mistake it as food. Additionally, animals can become tangled in the plastic debris and die.
According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, the most pervasive plastic pollution comes from microplastics. Microplastics originate from tires driving on the road to soaps and shampoos with plastic beads inside them. The microplastics are so pervasive that they end up in the food that we eat.
But, there is a way to stop the pollution if governments and people join in a serious concerted effort. It starts by going to the source. Using biodegradable products, like the nopal plastic, is a great solution. The bag can dissolve in water leaving behind no trace eliminating the dangerous pollution from damaging ecosystems.
In recent years, some single-use plastics have been replaced with biodegradable options – but even those aren’t entirely compostable. Biodegradable plastics are advertised as one solution to the pollution that is plastically bedeviling the entire world. Still, today’s “compostable” plastic bags, utensils, and cup lids don’t break straight down during...
A research team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley has found a way to make biodegradable plastics actually disappear.
While biodegradable plastics have been touted as a solution to plastic pollution, in practice they don't work as advertised.
"Biodegradability does not equal compostability," Ting Xu, study coauthor and UC Berkeley polymer scientist, told Science News.
But by studying nature, Xu and her team have developed a process that actually breaks down biodegradable plastics with just heat and water in a period of weeks. The results, published in Nature on Wednesday, could be game-changing for the plastic pollution problem.
Biodegradable plastics were supposed to solve this problem, but face three main limitations, according to Berkeley News and Berkeley Lab.
They get missorted and contaminate recyclable plastics.
They end up in landfills, where the conditions are not suitable for plastic breakdown, so they last as long as forever plastics.
When they are composted, they don't entirely degrade and still leave microplastics in the soil.
To create plastics that do disappear, Xu and her team studied nature.
"In the wild, enzymes are what nature uses to break things down — and even when we die, enzymes cause our bodies to decompose naturally," Xu told Berkeley Lab. "So for this study, we asked ourselves, 'How can enzymes biodegrade plastic so it's part of nature?"
The researchers focused on a polyester called polylactic acid, or PLA, which is used for most compostable plastics. Berkeley News explains how the process works:
The new process involves embedding polyester-eating enzymes in the plastic as it's made. These enzymes are protected by a simple polymer wrapping that prevents the enzyme from untangling and becoming useless. When exposed to heat and water, the enzyme shrugs off its polymer shroud and starts chomping the plastic polymer into its building blocks — in the case of PLA, reducing it to lactic acid, which can feed the soil microbes in compost. The polymer wrapping also degrades.
The researchers found that as much as 98 percent of their modified plastics converted into small molecules, leaving no microplastics behind. At room temperature, the plastics degraded by 80 percent after about a week. In the high heat of industrial composting conditions, plastics degraded even faster. They also disappeared after a few days in warm tap water.
