At a new production facility in Huntington Beach, California, a 50-foot-tall stainless steel tank is filled with 15,000 gallons of salt water, and inside microbes are turning methane\u2014a potent greenhouse gas\u2014into a new material that could simultaneously help tackle the challenges of climate change and ocean plastic. If the material is made into a disposable fork and ends up in the ocean, it degrades as easily as cellulose, turning into a food source for microbes.<\/p>\n
Newlight, the biotech company that created the material, began looking for ways to make use of greenhouse gas emissions more than a decade ago. \u201cWe asked the question, how can we take carbon that would otherwise go into the air, and turn it into useful materials,\u201d says Mark Herrema, CEO of Newlight. \u201cAs we looked around nature, we discovered pretty quickly that nature uses greenhouse gas to make materials every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers were particularly interested in ocean microorganisms that can consume methane and CO2 as food. \u201cAfter they eat that gas, they then convert that into a really special material inside themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a meltable energy storage material, which you can purify and then form into various parts and shapes and pieces.\u201d The team decided to replicate the process on land, using a tank filled with saltwater and microbes, with air and methane added to start the process. (The methane comes from an abandoned coal mine and other sources, where it would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere.) When the microbes make the material\u2014which Newlight calls Air Carbon\u2014the company extracts those cells. Then it filters and purifies the material, drying it into a fine white powder that can be molded into objects. After years of development, the first offerings made from the material are coming to market.<\/p>\n
The company has experimented with turning the material into everything from furniture to packaging but decided to focus first on products where it could have the most impact\u2014including as a replacement for single-use plastic straws and cutlery. \u201cBecause it\u2019s a material that\u2019s grown by life and recognized by life, it\u2019s ocean degradable,\u201d says Herrema. \u201cAnd if you look at ocean plastic pollution, a very large percentage of what ends up in the ocean comes from foodware and food-related applications.\u201d Restore, the company\u2019s new foodware brand, makes carbon-negative straws that look and feel like plastic. Unlike paper straws, they don\u2019t get soggy. But like paper, the material will naturally break down over time if it happens to be littered in the ocean. The brand also makes single-use forks, spoons, and other items that are typically made from plastic.<\/p>\n
To tackle another problem, Newlight is launching a separate brand called Covalent, which is making wallets and handbags from its material instead of leather. \u201cI believe it\u2019s the world\u2019s first net carbon-negative leather,\u201d Herrema says. The material is durable\u2014it won\u2019t peel or crack like real leather\u2014and unlike synthetic leathers made from fossil fuels, it can easily be recycled. The brand is also using Air Carbon to make carbon-negative eyeglass frames. The products, available for preorder now, will come stamped with a \u201ccarbon date\u201d that consumers can plug into a website to track how the carbon in that item moved through the production process.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see at the end of that, the fact that you prevented, let\u2019s call it, 100 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent gas from going into the air,\u201d Herrema says. \u201cI think that that tangible factor has the potential to get people excited about this. And also start asking questions about other materials in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About the author
\nAdele Peters is a staff writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to some of the world’s largest problems, from climate change to homelessness. Previously, she worked with GOOD, BioLite, and the Sustainable Products and Solutions program at UC Berkeley, and contributed to the second edition of the bestselling book “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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