BIOPLASTICS | MATERIALS
New bioplastics continue to be created – with both large and small players keen to develop materials from sustainable sources. Lou Reade reports
Speeding up research in bioplastic materials
Research into bioplastics is accelerating, due in part to concern about ocean pollution. This is happening at all parts of the development chain – from university labs to huge chemical companies. On the small scale, a UK-based product design student has devised a bioplastic from fish skin, fish scales and red algae. Lucy Hughes, of the University of Sussex, says
the material – called Marinatex – can biodegrade in soil in less than a month, and be disposed of through ordinary food waste collections. “With Marinatex, we are transforming a waste
stream into the main component of a new product,” she said. “By doing so, we have created a consistent, transparent and ‘plastic-like’ material with a more appropriate lifecycle for packaging.” She developed the idea following a visit to Newhaven-based sustainable fishing company MCB Seafoods, where she saw how the plentiful supply of organic waste material from the fishing industry – coupled with a biopolymer such as red algae – could create an effective plastic substitute. “Algae bioplastics are becoming more common, but the issue I faced during development was that
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the sheets I made without the fish waste seemed to revert back into a crinkled seaweed shape,” she said. Marinatex degrades in a fraction of the time
taken by PLA, she said, while being cheaper to produce. Also, it does not require a new recycling scheme for disposal. The material is also stronger than a standard plastic bag and does not leach toxins into the natural environment, she said. While further testing and scaling up of the business need to be explored, she says that – with the right support – the product could be ready for the market in little over a year.
Cellulose base Researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) in Lithuania have created a transparent, biodegradable plastic based on cellulose. In industrial compost centres, which sustain a
temperature of 580°C, the material will degrade in around six months, but will take a few years in a compost bin at home. “There are plenty of micro-organisms in compost, and they digest our plastic very well,”, said Paulius Pavelas Danilovas, who led the research.
Main image: Kaunas
University of Technology researchers in Lithuania have created a biodegradable plastic based on cellulose
� July/August 2019 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 15
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