Mexican engineer introduced a new alternative to classical plastic. It's made mainly from leaves of certain kids of opuntia - a certain cacti plant.
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According to BBC News, this innovative material is quite quick to decompose - in about a month in soil and just in a few days in water. And as its author - Sandra Ortiz from the University of the Valley of Atemajac - says: it's not a toxic product.
All the source materials that are used can be consumed by both humans and animals without hurting them. And if this alternative to plastic got into the oceans it would just work as feed for fish.
But how do you create this alternative to plastic? So far it's only being made inside a laboratory and takes about ten days. The opuntia is firstly blent and the "juice" is then mixed with other additives. And then you just laminate it and leave the mixture to solidify. Plus it is very easy to give them various colors, shapes, etc. etc. etc.
Sandra Ortiz is convinced that with some industrial support the process could be made much quicker, cheaper and expanded so much that it could rival traditional plastic.
Sources:
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I think having alternative ways of making plastic is very important especially because of this:
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