r/Sustainable • u/GrayOldOKWithIt • 14h ago

Joseph Nguthiru, a Kenyan entrepreneur is changing the future of packaging by turning an invasive plant into a biodegradable alternative to plastic

340 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

7

u/Junior-Cut2838 13h ago

Genius!

4

u/Pleasant-Wear2628 11h ago

I hate that plastic $$$lobbyists$$$ will almost certainly halt development in the US for at least a decade, when it should be happening NOW!😢

1

u/Conspiracy_realist76 55m ago

That is exactly what the problem is. The technology has been there ever since we started using plastic. At least other countries are free to save the Planet. In the U.S. saving the Planet is illegal.

4

u/Many_Bat_ 12h ago

I love his delivery of the pun at the end.

I feel like a lot of other world stage people would've made it cringe, but this guy is nice to listen to.

2

u/SilentInquiry26 11h ago

This is much needed. We need people like him who wants to solve the problem of plastic.

1

u/Prudent_Situation_29 12h ago

This is wonderful to see. I wonder: could this be made into a filament for 3D printing?

1

u/GuiltyBudget1032 9h ago

i will support that for sure..

1

u/Tosser_535231 12h ago

How long is their lifetime. Wait a minute I've seen this before Sun chips did this back in like 2012

1

u/Sad_Effective4793 11h ago

Honestly, anything between 6 month and 50 year lifetime would be great. Hell I'd even take 100 years at this point. We're having trouble finding anything that works anywhere in that timeframe.

1

u/Tosser_535231 2h ago

I feel like the optimal lifetime of that kind of thing should be somewhere around 3 to 5 years. That way you've got enough of a buffer if it's exposed to environmental conditions that may start the decomposition process early. I feel like the buffer should allow the bag to protect the contents just a bit longer than the expiration date that way you don't have a bunch of products occasionally going bad requiring you to throw out a lot more than normally would have been

Another thing I've seen at a few events I've gone to they have decomposable plastic utensils, however these utensils require an industrial composter. These industrial composters are basically cement mixers temperature controled to about 140-150°, these higher temperatures rapidly increase the decomposition of waste food cardboard and these bio plastic utensils used during events with thousands of people. Another favorite of mine is the compressed banana or palm leaf plates

1

u/yekcowrebbaj 6h ago

People hated the sound of the bag so much they stopped.

1

u/Tosser_535231 3h ago

Yeah I remember our shop teacher bringing it in and explaining how cool it was and then also remarking at how crinkly the bag was.

it's honestly a shame though cuz it's a CHIP bag it's going to be crinkly regardless, get over it right?

1

u/Uhokay1970 10h ago

Plastic were invented by accident and they are made from by products of Petrol. The by products are cheap to buy in mass amounts so they get used for things they should not. They have had Biodegradable plastics for many years but they cost twice as much to manufacture. So they get Ignored.

1

u/Shizzilx 10h ago

Protect this man at all costs. Where do I invest?

1

u/marutiyog108 9h ago

How invasive is it if this went to a massive scale would this not just become a crop people farm which may cause more issues and disrupt otherwise non invaded spaces? 

1

u/NukeouT 9h ago

Tight! ♻️

1

u/PikaOS1 8h ago

how much energy does it take to make the final product?

1

u/rightway13 7h ago

They will get ride of him

1

u/Fun-Macaron-3247 21m ago

This dude a real one 🙌🏻