New plastic that’s clean and green

Here’s a neat idea that could solve the problem of waste plastics as well as offer a new anti-viral material for cutlery and the like. 

Japan’s Green Science Alliance has created a biomass-based biodegradable resin which can be mass-produced in a normal injection moulding machine. As well as eating implements, the inventors are hopeful the new material could be used to replace the crude oil-derived parts of medical items such as masks, gowns, coats and face shields. The part which offers the cleanliness is a Silver nano colloid-based anti-bacterial material, which was tested against E-Coli. 

Further enhancements will be made to its properties in the coming months.