Ecological plastic made from straw was invented by British scientists

They say that the use of 5 percent of the yield annual straw or 3 percent of sugar beet crops, for example, would allow half of the 17 billion The bioplastic is made from lignin, the rigid material that keeps trees and plants upright. The same process could also use sugar molecules, instead of oil, to make plastic.

A research project from the Universities of Warwick and York created the first bioplastic from wheat straw. Dr. Tim Bugg, a professor of biological chemistry at the University of Warwick, said, "The breakthrough is that bioplastics can be made from lignin, which it was thought could not be done ago. ten or fifteen years old

. "Modifying the gene improves the bioplastic yield of lignin and decreases the time it takes for us to make this plastic in bulk.

& # 39; Lignin is an interesting raw material because it is found in wheat straw. The Daily Mail has led the campaign against plastic pollution over the last ten years.

Our Ban the Bags campaign led to 5p on plastic bags and Ban the Beads. At present, the campaign has resulted in the ban of toxic microbeads. The "Turn the tide on plastic" campaign highlighted the threat of plastic waste that clogs the oceans, puts wildlife at risk and enters the food chain after being swallowed by fish

A new plan for the new bioplastic was created at the University of Warwick by editing the genes of Rhodococcus jostii, a bacterium found in the soil that breaks down lignin. By tweaking the DNA of this microbe, scientists can overproduce an enzyme that converts lignin into a new product that can be used to make bioplastics. It can be rigid, foldable or turned into transparent film, and thus could be used in many types of food packaging.

The process uses a molecular "toolbox" that allows scientists to precisely target, cut and replace any type of genetic material. quickly and cheaply. The British firm Biome Technologies is developing ways to use the technology and says it could also publish E. coli bacteria to harvest a catalyst used to speed up chemical reactions.

This Would Deliver Faster Harvesting of Long-Chain Molecules in Sugar to Create Professor Simon McQueen-Mason, a Materials Biologist at the University of York, said that carbon found in nature is leading the way to a natural replacement of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic currently used in water bottles. 19659002] He added: "A 50 kiloton PEF (PET replacement) plant could produce enough plastic to replace 50% of all the bottles used in the UK."