Hey presto! Plastic that disappears...

By

Fanny Laemmel

Plastic is messing up our environment. But it's incredibly useful, especially for packaging food and other stuff we buy. At Notpla, they've come up with a startling alternative to replace it.

Tristan Kaye and his colleagues have set themselves the goal of making packaging disappear. They were really upset to see all the pollution caused by plastic. They call their company Notpla - for "not plastic".

Of all the plastic produced in the world, 40% of it gets used only once before being thrown away. Only 9% of plastic gets recycled.

"The first thing that we're doing is trying to create a material that is based on ingredients that Nature recognises," Tristan tells WoW! News. "So if they do find their way into the natural environment, Nature will be able to break them down."

Wrapped up in Nature's packing

The team at Notpla is using seaweed to make packaging - inspired by Nature herself: "Think about an apple. An apple is wrapped in its skin. You don't have to eat the skin if you don't want to but the skin protects the apple when it's shipped to you," explains Tristan. "In many countries in Southeast Asia, they've been wrapping their 'sandwiches' in seaweed for a long time, if you think about sushi."

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