AWARD YEAR
2021
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Sustainable Cities & Communities, Climate Action
KEYWORDS
seaweed, Bioplastic, biodegradable plastic
COUNTRY
Mexico
DESIGNED BY
BioPlaster Research
WEBSITE
https://www.bioplaster.mx/biodegradables.html
Biodegradable sargassum bioplastic
We tackle plastic waste pollution and the arrival of huge quantities of sargassum at the Caribbean.
We have designed a 100% biodegradable bioplastic made from polluting Sargassum seaweed that can be used for the plastic industry.
Our advantage lies in the formulation and in the widely available material, unlike other bioplastics that rely on agricultural byproducts or on crops such as corn or potato. An example of this is Polylactic Acid (PLA). To produce 1kg of this biomaterial, 2.6kg of corn and 2450litres of water are needed. 270million tons of PLA are produced per year, (which is only 4% of the world’s plastic production) using 715million tons of corn instead of using it as food.
We aim to commercialise bioplastic pellets to be used as raw material by already existing industrial machinery in the plastic industry as well as a biodegradable non-woven fabric for surgical kits and facemasks.
Our process has an outstanding yield, 1 ton of sargassum = 5 tons of bioplastic. We can adjust the plastic’s properties and biodegradability times for a variety of markets.