Saturday, 19 Dec 2020 08:27 AM MYT
Chemists at Brazil s São Paulo State University are using waste from the manufacture of wound dressings to make a biodegradable film suitable for food packaging. ― IStock.com/AFP pic
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SAO PAULO, Dec 19 ― Plastic, the star material of the 1950s, is now public enemy number one for the planet in terms of polluting materials. Still widely used in our day-to-day lives, plastic continues to poison the environment. However, teams throughout the science world are exploring more eco-friendly alternatives. Chemists in Brazil, for example, are using industrial waste to make a biodegradable film suitable for food packaging.
Applied Material & Interfaces.
“We set out to fill the HMPC matrix with bacterial cellulose nanocrystals in order to enhance its properties. We also wanted to create greener protocols for the development of novel composites, from the material itself to its origin, so we included the reuse of industrial waste in the project,” said
Márcia Regina de Moura Aouada, a co-author of the article. Aouada has a PhD in chemistry from UNESP, where she teaches and is a researcher at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (
CDMF), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (
RIDCs) supported by FAPESP.