Have you ever thought about how many plastic bags reach the
ocean every year?
I can tell it to you, 8 million tonnes every year, and this number is supposed to continue growing if we continue consuming such a huge amount of plastic bags. This alarming numbers don’t receive the importance that they should have, because we aren’t aware that in a few years these effects are going to make the world worse and the situation will be irreversible if steps are not taken.
However, some great minds and scientists are concerned with the situation and they use their intelligent and knowledge to make the world a better place. This is the case of a group of students of a biotechnology engineering degree of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Autonomous University of Querétaro. This brilliant group of students has developed a project whose purpose is to eliminate the plastic bags in the world, and to avoid using them, they have created plastic bags that are biodegradable.
These biodegradable bags will replace the plastic bags, but the idea is that they will have the same function and resistance as the plastic bags and, due to the materials that they are created of, the time of deterioration will also be reduced. However, this is not the only advantage: their materials are so innovative that in the case these bags reach the ocean, animals will be able to eat them without resulting damaged, which is an important fact taking into account the huge number of animals that die every year due to this waste.
Another interesting fact is that, although you may think that these bags will be very expensive due to the materials, that is not true. These bags are created from food waste produced by the agri-food industry. And as these materials are so cheap, the bags won’t be expensive, because the goal of this project is to reduce the contamination of plastic bags in the ocean and to help the environment, not to create a source of income with it.
Although the project has not reached the manufacturing process yet, the group of students has great expectations with this project and they hope that in a few years all the plastic bags will be replaced by their invention.
I hope that this project will be launched in a few years and until that date we all must reduce our plastic bags and waste.
This is an issue that always scares me. There are so many posts saying that by 2050 the Earth will be completely dry and all the forests will have undergone deforestation.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this situation is that even if one part of the world recycles and takes care of the planet while the other half does not, there's no point of it because we are all living in the same place therofere the problems as well as the solutions for those issues are in everyone's hands.
I saw the plastic bags that are mentioned in a video and they were amazing. I guess it's a similar sort of bag but they could also break up in the water. I only hope that one day all the member states ban the plastic bags used until the moment and establish these ones as the ones that should be used by every single citizen.
I think this is an amazing optative to the normal plastic bags. But this idea has to still be developed. All the plastic that is in the sea is not only the one that you use to carry your groceries, it's also the plastic that covers the fruits that you buy(yeah, the one that fruits don't need because the have a natural, biodegradable cover), the plastic bottle that you buy (and once it finishes you throw it away instead of reusing it), and a lot of other things.
ReplyDeleteAnd the fault of pollution is ours, but only in part, I think that the ones that have the most of the fault are the top ten industries, like fuels, dye ... that still dump all their wastes into the sea.
But also this is a lovely alternative to the plastic bags
By: Inés Pérez
This is a very serious issue because if we don't take care of our planet who is going to do it. And not only because of us also because we aren't protecting other type of living things and species.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of these type of plastic bags is one of the best ideas that I have heard because is very easy to do it and it doesn't supose a huge change in our society.
It is very sad seeing how all that amount of plastic out there is polluting the Earth and knowing that there is still people who isn't doing nothing at all... However, reading this piece of news and seeing people, as this guys, is quite good. The idea of the biodegradable bags it's fantastic. We should all try to find some ideas as this one for helping the planet. This way, with small alternatives we could make a great change.
ReplyDeleteby: Izana Alcalde
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