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Johnson, who works in the department of wood science at UBC\u2019s faculty of forestry, has created a bioplastic from agricultural crops that belong to the grass family such as wheat, corn and oats. She only uses the stalk from these grass crops so she\u2019s not taking away a food source, which is important as food scarcity linked to climate change becomes more of a threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said they have done mechanical testing on her plastic alternative \u2014 called Grasstic \u2014 and found it is twice as strong as a plastic bag. The bioplastic is transparent, which makes it great for use in dry goods packaging such as the windows in bread bags or on pasta boxes or films over ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCereal grasses like wheat have long stalks which are either baled off during harvest or left in the fields. That\u2019s a lot of material that could be up-cycled into bioplastic,\u201d\u00a0she said in an interview Thursday ahead of a Climate Change Stories event at UBC that she spoke at in the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, I decided to use a biopolymer in this waste to make bioplastic and\u00a0it worked.\u00a0It\u2019s really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Grasstic is made from a biopolymer called xylan, which is abundant in grasses and biodegrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson has been working on this project as part of her PhD for four years, and is driven by a passion to find sustainable materials to replace fossil fuel-based plastics that don\u2019t break down in the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often biodegradable bags that can be purchased at stores, while compostable, are made from corn starch, which is a food source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInstead of choosing corn as a starting material for the bioplastic, I\u2019ve chosen agricultural waste \u2014 just the stalks of the wheat, corn or oat plant \u2014\u00a0all of these cereal grasses are\u00a0a great source\u00a0of this\u00a0biopolymer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As well, Johnson said she has tested it for biodegradation in both soil and ocean water, so even if it ended up in the environment it breaks down and does not pose a risk to wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve eaten it, you can eat it. It\u2019s completely safe. And the process that I use to make it is completely green. I use a water-based process to get the polymer out of the plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now she is looking to partner with bio-refineries and farmers to find a large commercial source of the biopolymer she needs to make the plastic alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy heart breaks every time I speak to someone from a paper mill about sourcing the biopolymer and they say, \u2018Oh that part we just burn.\u2019 I could make Grasstic out of that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once she has that, she can scale up production. She said\u00a0Canadian food manufacturers, such as\u00a0Loblaws,\u00a0are\u00a0open to considering biodegradable materials that can replace single-use plastics in bakery applications or to replace materials that are difficult to source within North America, such as the clear windows on pasta and other dry good boxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several other initiatives underway at UBC looking to rid the world of plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One is led by\u00a0UBC researcher<\/a>\u00a0Dr. Feng Jiang, who has developed a cellulose film from wood pulp. Meanwhile,\u00a0two new UBC startups<\/a>\u00a0are battling plastic pollution. Bioform Technologies has created a compostable bioplastic from kelp and wood fibre, while A2O Advanced Materials has developed a new chemical compound that can prolong the life of industrial materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.![\"YouTube\"](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/borlabs-cookie\/assets\/images\/cb-no-thumbnail.png\")
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