Plastic Packaging Produced from Fish Waste

Bioplastic made from organic waste with potential to replace plastic in food and beverage packaging has earned an English designer a GBP 30,000 award. A biodegradable plastic was developed from fish skin. The product developers were deemed worthy of the James Dyson Award. Lucy Hughes, 24, a product design graduate from Sussex University, received the James Dyson Award for MarinaTex, a biodegradable and compostable material. Dyson stated, "Young engineers possess the passion, awareness and intelligence to solve some of the world's greatest problems. Ultimately, we decided to choose an idea that is the least the world can do. MarinaTex elegantly solves two problems: single-use plastic and the prevalence of fish waste." Hughes attempted to address the problems of environmentally friendly plastic alternatives and inefficient waste streams by using fish trimmings to create an environmentally friendly plastic alternative. Global figures estimate that 40% of plastic produced for packaging is used once and discarded. The product is noted as being a versatile material that can serve as a plastic alternative due to its strength, semi-transparency and flexibility. The product, which can be used in single-use packaging from bags to sandwich wrappers, contains only organic content with no harmful chemicals. The ecology-friendly product thus causes no harm to wildlife or humans. Source: Guardian, Ekolojist.net