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Natural ingredients create biodegradable alternative to plastic

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Natural ingredients including seaweed, maize, sugar beet, mushrooms and bacteria have been used by British scientists to create a biodegradable alternative to plastic.

Toraphene – described as ‘the world's first truly biodegradable, compostable and commercially viable alternative to plastic packaging' – combines biopolymers from living organisms with graphene, a carbon derivative which is tougher than diamonds at an atomic level.

Norwegian investor Gaute Juliussen, of the London-based firm named after the product, said that Toraphene was ‘stronger, thinner and less-permeable than alternatives, which improves food safety and shelf-life'.

He explained that many existing plastic alternatives need specific man-made conditions to biodegrade, and that many still end up degrading into micro plastics.

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Mark Evans
Mark Evans
Scuba Diver's Editorial Director Mark Evans has been in the diving industry for nearly 25 years, and has been diving since he was just 12 years old. nearly 40-odd years later and he is still addicted to the underwater world.
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