For anyone environmentally conscious, the thought of hundreds of millions of plastic bags being used in shops and supermarkets — every time someone purchases loose fruit and vegetables, or carries their items home — is soul destroying. The vast majority of these items end up as landfill or find their way into the ocean.
Sharon Barak is the brains behind Solutum, a cleantech startup targeting plastic pollution. She leads a team of chemical engineers that have developed a new, eco-friendly and strong compound which is easy to use and can be used for everything from packaging, food coverings tobottles.
Solutum stresses that regular plastic machinery can be used to create the products – reducing costs and meeting manufacturers’ requirements.
What’s key is that the product is completely biodegradable. Once used, it can simply be thrown down the drain, dissolving into nothing within minutes. In fact, after breaking down in water, the solution is safe enough for humans to drink.
“Easy to produce, easy to use and easy to dispose of – our product allows for a sustainable and cleaner environment,” the website reads.
A video about Barak and her company by popular YouTube blogger Nas Daily comments that Barak used to work at a plastics company until she quit to “go solve the plastic problem”.
Tags: biodegradable, bioengineering, biomaterials, bioplastic, plastic, plastic pollution, plastic solutions