Food packing made from sugar

Food packaging

Scientists at the Imperial College London have been busy, they've managed to transform sugars found in fast growing trees and grasses into large molecule, known as a polymer, which can be used as plastic.

The search for greener plastics, especially for single use items such as food packaging, is the subject of significant research worldwide.

Although there are already plastics on the market made from natural materials like corn, these do not biodegrade quickly.

The new discovery would not only cut down on the use of oil, which is usually used to make plastic, but potentially enable people to compost plastic at home.

Plastics made from oil can take hundreds of years to decompose but the new material would break down in a matter of months.

Charlotte Williams, of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council who is helping to develop the new material, said to the British paper The Telegraph that plastics made from sugar could be on the shelves within five years.

"The development of the material is very promising and I'm optimistic that the technology could be in use within two to five years," she said.

Resources

Around seven percent of worldwide oil and gas resources are consumed in plastics manufacture, with worldwide production exceeding 150 million tons per year. Almost 99 percent of plastics are formed from fossil fuels.

Dr. Williams said the British research had worked out how to extract a polymer from glucose found in trees and grasses. Since these plants are not needed for food and require much less land to make the amount of plastic needed, it would be much less controversial than growing crops for fuel in cars.

The process is much less energy intensive than current methods of producing plastic. The new material is also better for the environment because it degrades quickly.

At the moment the research is concentrating on how to make plastics from sugar for the mass market but results are "very promising". It will then be necessary to develop the product commercially and go through all the necessary regulations.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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