Revolutionary development: bacteria could make plastic more sustainable
Good news: a fully circular use of plastic may be possible thanks to fungal enzymes that break down PET within 10 days.
Packaging made of seaweed: finally a real solution for the plastic soup!
25 February 2021
Good news! The winner of the Green Challenge of the broadcaster Omroep Max’s new TV programme Iedereen Kan Het! (anyone can do it!) has thought up a clever solution for single-use food packaging – packaging made of seaweed.
Ayça Dündar of SoluBlue, a British start-up, could hardly believe it when she heard that she would get half a million euros to develop her seaweed packaging. The second prize (two hundred thousand euros) went to Jiva Materials Limited that has developed a fibrous material for printing plates that dissolves in water. This makes them easier to recycle.
The prize money comes from the Dutch National Postal Code Lottery. The other finalists also did not go home empty handed. Watch the programme here (partly in Dutch, partly in English).
TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE
By developing packaging made of seaweed, SoluBlue killed two birds with one stone. The packaging is completely biodegradable and the food that it contains stays fresh longer.
Single-use plastic food packaging has two major disadvantages. The first is that it becomes part of the plastic pollution problem as it does not break down in the environment. The second is that it often condenses on the inside. While food in plastic stays fresher for longer than unpackaged food, the contents start getting mouldy after a while.
NO FOOD WASTE
The food packed in the seaweed packaging stays fresh longer than it does in plastic packaging. Instead of forming mould, the food starts drying out and stays usable even when dried. So food does not need to be thrown away anymore while about one third of all the food currently produced around the world is wasted.
The company claims that tomatoes, for example, will stay fresh for three months. Unfortunately, the seaweed packaging is not suitable for packaging liquids.
EDIBLE
There is even a third advantage. The seaweed packaging is edible so it can be used for cattle feed, for example. You can also throw it on the compost and, should it end up in the environment or the sea, it will biodegrade within a few weeks. Given that the material is digestible, any animal that eats it will not suffer any negative side effects. In addition, the fact that the packaging can be thrown away with leftover food makes cooking and cleaning the kitchen a lot easier.
OIL-BASED PLASTIC IS TOO CHEAP
SoluBlue will undoubtedly use the prize money to scale up its production process. However, the production costs will remain higher than those of traditional plastic that is produced from cheap fossil fuels.
Multinationals such as Unilever and Nestlé are likely to assess the costs of the packaging and will not embrace this option quickly for this reason.
We need to move to the closed circular economy and this packaging material will be absorbed in the natural circular system. It could not be better. It is thus up to governments to push industry. Without financial measures that discourage the use of plastic and that incentivise real alternatives, we will not see seaweed packaging on the shelves for a while.
You may be interested in:
- Food waste and plastic waste go hand in hand
- Banks and insurance companies in the Netherlands invest billions in shale gas and plastic production
More news
Read more
Scientists respond to the decision to designate BPA as a substance of very high concern
After years of legal proceedings, the plastics industry finally has to concede: BPA will be added to the list of highly hazardous substances. It is a great victory for the environment. Three scientists respond.
Chemical cocktails in plastic are becoming an increasing health problem internationally
Plastic is an important source of toxic chemical pollution, show two recent studies. For this reason, recycling plastic is not the right strategy.
Wonder plastic PEF will not yet help solve the plastic soup
Is PEF really the wonder plastic that the world is desperate for? Will it help solve the plastic soup?
