Fancy a ‘green’ plate?

| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Fancy a ‘green’ plate? Santiago We all know plastic is a curse, we shouldn’t use it but sometimes in absence of a substitute, it becomes imperative. For example, travelling disposable cups, plates and spoons. But now there’s an alternative. Scientists have designed a set of “green” tableware made from sugarcane waste and bamboo that could serve as a potential alternative to plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers. And what’s more, you won’t even feel any differently! Unlike traditional plastic or biodegradable polymers, which can take as long as 450 years or require high temperatures to degrade—this non-toxic, eco-friendly material only takes 60 days to break down and is clean enough to hold your morning coffee or dinner takeout. Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team of scientists from Northeastern University molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable. The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after two months. Did you know? According to World Economic Forum researchers, just 10 rivers across Asia and Africa carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the oceans. The study states that eight of these rivers are in Asia: the Yangtze, Indus, Yellow, Hai He, Ganges, Pearl, Amur, and Mekong. Two of the rivers can be found in Africa: the Nile and the Niger.

We all know plastic is a curse, we shouldn’t use it but sometimes in absence of a substitute, it becomes imperative. For example, travelling disposable cups, plates and spoons. But now there’s an alternative. 

Scientists have designed a set of “green” tableware made from sugarcane waste and bamboo that could serve as a potential alternative to plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers. And what’s more, you won’t even feel any differently! 

Unlike traditional plastic or biodegradable polymers, which can take as long as 450 years or require high temperatures to degrade—this non-toxic, eco-friendly material only takes 60 days to break down and is clean enough to hold your morning coffee or dinner takeout.

Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team of scientists from Northeastern University molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable. 

The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after two months.


Did you know?

According to World Economic Forum researchers, just 10 rivers across Asia and Africa carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the oceans. The study states that eight of these rivers are in Asia: the Yangtze, Indus, Yellow, Hai He, Ganges, Pearl, Amur, and Mekong. Two of the rivers can be found in Africa: the Nile and the Niger.


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