Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/11/18/young-woman-invents-ingenious.html
…
4 Likes
Sounds delicious!
6 Likes
Looks edible, to me.
5 Likes
I’m impressed. Alas, it won’t catch on unless it manages to be cheaper than existing plastic bags. It also needs to not decay in a freezer (think zip-loc bags).
Such a great start though. Much more research needs to be done into turning animal waste into materials we can use in single-use products. Solve two problems at once. I recall some research being done around turning shrimp shells into harder plastics.
8 Likes
Looks brilliant. Hopefully it will see quick commercial success.
2 Likes
My initial reaction to these bioplastics is “cool, but it won’t replace [X usage].” But, of course, it doesn’t have to. There are so many places plastic is used, it can cut down a lot of plastic waste by being used for just some of them. So maybe not plastic bags, but plenty of other kinds of packaging.
The video shows, for example, the piece of plastic in the top of a kleenex dispenser. There aren’t a lot of demands being made on that piece of plastic - only that it be semi-flexible and mostly transparent. There are tons of similar ways plastic is being used.
18 Likes
Now if we could just figure out how to turn pig anus into calimari …
7 Likes
I don’t think Trump will ever be calamari…
11 Likes
4 Likes
Seems like a natural material to use to replace existing plastics in the fast food industry, like straws and the tops for cups.
3 Likes
One issue I can foresee is the vegan/vegetarian lobby getting involved.
There are many almost infinitely sustainable materials which are animal byproducts, but which are the focus of vegan protests, but those materials can really only be replaced by synthetics, which then cause the inevitable environmental pollution issues.
2 Likes
One big question, will it trigger allergic reactions in people with severe seafood allergies?
Would it trigger those allergies if it was used to wrap food?
4 Likes
This. Which also means that it’s utility may be limited in other cases that aren’t strictly food consumption (see the Kleenex example: no, you don’t eat Kleenex, but it does come in contact with eyes, nose and even lips).
There may be a way to completely destroy the proteins, but for some people, trace amounts can be dangerous. And unlike the BK article, where the workers should be able to tell a customer where and how a product was cooked, your average grocery store clerk isn’t going to have a clue what the plastic wrapping your cheese is made of.
3 Likes
Hearing the name James Dyson was a buzzkill though.
He’s just the inventor of a shitty home appliance, and not a very important one at that, who lives for PR.
4 Likes
And a brexiteer:
5 Likes
Do products like this have human testing? For stuff like this?
2 Likes
Getting people to stop using plastic is one thing, getting people to stop eating fish and chips, that’s quite another. Use the fish plastic I say!
1 Like
Agreed. Scientists consider squids as being quite intelligent.
5 Likes
This shrimp-aholic perked up! 
. For true “bio-ness”, any substance that could bind the pulverized/powdered(??) shells must also come from some natural/animal source, yet not degrade so quickly. Perhaps pressure and temperature alone could hold things together?
Any materials people here on BB?
LOL. That was completely unexpected. Thanks for the laugh!
