“Good” plastic comes from the sea: it doesn't pollute, and it recovers waste from fish processing

It was invented by a 24-year-old London student, Lucy Hughes, winner of the 2019 International James Dyson Award for designers and inventors. It's called MarinaTex, and is made from processing fish bones and cartilage combined with red algae.

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plastic from fish waste

Durable, biodegradable, non-polluting, and actually recyclable. Here's the identikit of the winning invention of the last edition of the international James Dyson award: a plastic bags ideal for domestic and food use, which solves the problem of disposable products and marine litter and which, furthermore, helps to recover organic material derived from the processing waste of caught fish.

ALSO READ: Bioplastic, the advantages of a material produced from agricultural waste. It's biodegradable and recyclable. And it doesn't pollute (photos).

PLASTIC FROM FISH WASTE

All thanks to a young student at the University of Sussex, Lucy Hughes, aged 24, who had the tenacity and perseverance to carry forward his research project for this innovative material: a bioplastic consisting of organic fish waste normally destined for landfill or incineration mixed with red algae, widely present in the English marine ecosystem, rich in thickening substances, easy to find and, above all, low cost. It is a sheet material, translucent and flexible, a characteristic that makes it ideal for disposable packaging.

Comparisons with polymer plastic, however, stop at the external similarity: MarinaTex, this is the name of the substance, it does not require many resources nor too much energy to be produced.  Low environmental impact, it biodegrades after 4-6 weeks, and is suitable for home composting as it does not release toxic substances.. Furthermore, it allows us to transform waste into a resource, in full circular spirit: gwaste from fish processing, such as offal, blood, shells or scales, are saved from rubbish dump and reworked by kneading them with algae. Being rich in solid protein structures, they become even more indestructible and flexible, perfect for a material that requires a certain level of resistance as well as versatility.

Furthermore, obtaining the raw materials at the base of MarinaTex is not difficult at all: industrial fishing is a very popular and very profitable activity for Great Britain, capable of moving a sector worth 980 million pounds and fishing, annually, around 724 thousand tons of fish and shellfish, including one of the species whose waste was chosen by Lucy for the experiment, Atlantic cod.

Hughes herself states that,  A medium-sized cod generates enough organic waste to produce approximately 1400 MarinaTex bags.Add to this figure the fact that of the 724 tons, approximately 15 are cod, and the calculation is easy.

MARINATEX

La bioplastic Made with marine waste, it therefore closes the life cycle of seafood and opens a new life cycle for a new material, also reducing the environmental impact of fishing activities and solving the frighteningly large problem of single-use plastic. MarinaTex, still in its infancy, thrilled the judging panel of the prestigious Dyson Award, which awarded Lucy Hughes with 30 thousand poundsOn the award's official page, she explains that 100 experiments were needed to develop MarinaTex, mostly in the university's campus kitchen, and that she intends to reinvest the money into developing the new biomaterial and marketing her invention.

(Featured image taken from the web page of the The James Dyson Award // Photocredits: The James Dyson Award )

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