Researchers in Indonesia have discovered a way to transform shrimp shell waste into biodegradable plastic to fight plastic pollution.
All plastic breaks down eventually, but petroleum-based plastic takes thousands of years to break down.
"Biodegradable plastic is a type of plastic that can be broken down by bacteria. When disposed of in soil, it will degrade and disintegrate over time," Dr. Camellia Panatarani said to the Unpad Media Channel as reported by Universitas Padjadjaran.
Dr. Panatarani is a member of the research team at the Functional Nano Powder University Center of Excellence (Finder U-CoE) of Universitas Padjadjaran (UP). The team is looking for industry partners to expand their production in an effort to stop plastic waste.
"We have conducted various tests, including packaging for chicken meat and fruits, and found that the plastic significantly improved the shelf life of the products," Dr. Panatarani explained to the Unpad Media Channel.
The research team has experimented with cassava and carrageenan as well. Its members have found that cassava is promising: Making plastic with that root could be more cost-effective.
UP's Finder Biodegradable Plastic isn't the first of its kind. Harvard's Wyss Institute was working on "shrilk" in 2014. And Australian student Angelina Arora made a similar kind of shrimp plastic in 2018.
It may seem like researchers are reinventing the wheel, but this is a new technology. The more people work on this, the more ideas come in about how we can better engineer this plastic.
The United Nations Environment Programme says that we pollute about 400 million tons of plastic per year. Shrimp shell plastic won't solve all our problems immediately. But biodegradable plastic is one of many pieces needed to solve this environmental puzzle.
It's unclear as to when UP's Finder Biodegradable Plastic will hit store shelves. But researchers hope that it'll be a solid product that will preserve your food well and help you save money.
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