In only one world ocean, according to various estimates, is up to 8 million tons of plastic. And that’s not considering plastic dumping ground on the land. We already wrote about the fact that plastic can be much more harmful than we believe, but so far mankind has not invented anything better recycling. That anyway does not relieve us from an enormous amount of waste. However, development in the area of creating biodegradable plastics is underway and was recently presented a very interesting technology of making plastic from potato starch.
Immediately it is worth noting that the development of technology is not a huge group of scientists, and one of the students of the University of Lund (Sweden) by the name of Pontus Turnquist. The invention was presented in the framework of the competition The James Dyson Award. This international award in the field of industrial design and engineering, established in 2004. It involved students and young scientists from all over the world.
A new plastic has received a logical name Plastic Potato, and the creation of a biodegradable material the student has inspired a large number of reports that in the blood and gastrointestinal tract of various animals increasingly began to find plastic particles. To solve this problem, the Pontus Turnquist decided to make the material based on potato starch and water.
For the competition were made set of Cutlery, which in appearance very much resemble an ordinary, disposable plastic spoons, forks and knives. Yeah, that test samples and they don’t look very attractive, but no one bothers to use, for example, organic dyes to impart a uniform color.
The main advantage of Potato Plastic that decomposes within 2 months into its component parts — water and starch, which does not carry any danger to the surrounding flora and fauna. Naturally, the new technology will be suitable not only Cutlery, but also for various plastic containers.
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Developed a biodegradable ‘plastic’ from… potatoes
Vladimir Kuznetsov