Plastic has been an inextricable component of daily life since its introduction to humanity, while simultaneously being the leading source of pollution.
It is difficult to quit plastic altogether, however there is a scientist from Mexico who has discovered a way to cut down the amount of single-use plastic that ends up in landfills by creating its biodegradable variant that doesn’t harm the environment.
The woman creating change
Sandra Pascoe Ortiz is a chemical engineer and researcher from Mexico who works at the University of the Valley of Atemajac in Zapopan. She has been working on sustainable development and innovation projects since 2011.
She began exploring nopal cactus as a substrate for plastic with a few students in 2013 with the intention of producing a substitute from natural materials that could replace some of the plastics we use today, however the study was abandoned owing to the lack of support and insufficient equipment.
Nonetheless, she resumed the project with a fresh group of pupils later.
They first started experimenting with cactus as a raw material for making plastic in a chemistry class with career industrial engineering students and later began their quest in an official manner.
From plants to plastic
When Ortiz discovered that the cactus has the same sugars and gums that go into making biopolymer, the building block of plastic, she began her work.
Cactus leaves were chopped, peeled, and juiced to make the substance. The cactus juice was then chilled and combined with natural glycerine, waxes, and colourants, laminated, and then poured onto a flat surface to dry. The end result was a flexible, long-lasting polymer that resembled petroleum-based plastic in appearance and feel.
Unlike the manufacturing of regular plastic, this procedure does not require crude oil, which has been criticised by environmentalists. It also has the advantage of being carbon neutral, as the carbon it emits during breakdown is equal to the carbon it absorbs during growth.
This bioplastic is also sustainable because only a few leaves are removed from the plant, allowing it to rejuvenate rather than sprout from seed to adulthood. Most significantly, it degrades quickly. Unlike standard plastic items, which can take up to 450 years to degrade, this green plastic takes approximately 2-3 months to break down in soil and 7 days if soaked in water or put in compost.
Furthermore, this green plastic is non-toxic and safe to consume for both animals and humans, which means that even if it ends up in the ocean, it may assist to offset some of the risks to sea life.
Her crew can also produce a variety of colours, forms, and thicknesses, some of which are rigid and others which are smooth and flexible.
Currently, the procedure is only available in her lab as prototypes, and it takes 10 days to complete. She is also researching the use of cactus for manufacturing toys, purses, and other plastic products on a large scale while simultaneously working with 300 distinct varieties of nopal cactus that are unique to Mexico.
A lot of enterprises have shown interest in her work, and with the proper investors, comprehensive study can be carried out to test the efficiency and scale up manufacturing of these fake plastics to industrial levels.
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