Cleantech Answers the Plastic Problem
Plastic Red Cups + 4th of July = America 🇺🇸
Most likely because of movies like American Pie, plastic red party cups are known as a trademark of American culture. It’s endearing to hear, but in reality, it’s terrible because PLASTIC NEVER GOES AWAY! Did you know that?
That’s right, traditional plastic made from petroleum doesn’t decompose like nearly every other material on Earth. Organisms that typically break down matter can’t recognize the chemical structure so plastics can’t biodegrade. Instead, sunlight breaks it down into tiny little pieces.
How Bad Is The Plastic Problem?
Like Nemo, plastic tends to find its way into the ocean. A MASSIVE pile of plastic larger than the size of Texas currently floats in the ocean. It’s known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
When the sun breaks down plastic island into tiny pieces, toxic chemicals such as BPA are released into the ecosystem and harm millions of marine animals. Those poisons make their way up the food chain and can end up in our stomachs. Goodbye, sushi dinners.
The end of the plastic era is nowhere in sight. Plastic production is estimated to nearly quadruple by 2050.
A Wave of Innovation
We continue to use plastic because it’s so damn cheap and functional for packaging. All around the world, there’s always ample supply and demand for water bottles and sodas.
We’ve got to innovate to change our norm. Here are some cleantech solutions:
Compostable Products: Alternative products manufactured from corn and sugarcane, known as PLA, are compostable but they’re more expensive. Fortunately, Michiel Dusselier, a researcher at KU Leuven, has developed a new cheaper method to produce more PLA.
Water Repellent Material Alternative: To keep water out, we use plastic. Perflourinated compounds (PFCs) to be specific. Columbia has made a jacket from recycled water bottles without PFCs.
Converting Plastic into Liquid Fuel: Chinese chemists have created a method to clean up the annoyingly durable plastic already on Earth by turning it into fuel.
The Ocean Cleanup: This brilliant system uses the flow of ocean currents to do the clean up work. It could theoretically remove about half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 10 years. Oh, and it was created by 17 year old wiz kid, Boyan Slat. Check it out…
Have Your Fork and Eat It Too: Edible cutlery! Now serving with curry in India where plastic garbage runs rampant.
Plastic into Mushrooms: That’s basically it. Two Vienna-based industrial designers have ingeniously turned plastic into organic edible fungi.
Do Your Patriotic Duty
With more demand, there will further cause for innovation. So spring for the biodegradable cups this July 4th 🇺🇸
And send this newsletter to your friends! It’s what George Washington and Ben Franklin would have wanted.
To get a better sense of the plastic problem, watch Plastic Paradise.
