The world is full of plastics. Through the years, humans had been contaminating the Earth with several polymers, being the most dangerous the short-term ones. Nowadays, we know that there are several solutions for reducing plastics, however, are there any solutions for removing plastics once and for all? Is there any eco-friendly solution?
We have two proposals that aim to remove or at least reduce plastic in a massive way. We know that there are three living organisms that can “eat” or degrade plastic: a worm, a bacteria and a fungus. We thought of a way in which we could use these living creatures in a domestic and comfortable way, so that people could reduce plastics and help the environment from the comfort of their homes.
On the one hand, we create the C.R.D.P. ( Compactor and Reductor of Plastic), this machine is composed by two parts: a manual and portable compactor, and a “fishbowl” with the plastic-eaters organisms previously mentioned. The role of the compactor is to reduce the size of the plastic wastes that later on will be deposited inside the container. The fishbowl would act as a composter, people would leave them in a place near their homes and plastics would be the only material allowed to throw in it. This wouldn’t just help to reduce plastic if not it would also help with the classification of wastes, decreasing their amount in a vast scale. A further step beyond the domestic use of the C.R.D.P. to implement its use not just at home if not all over the town.
On the other hand, we believe that a most effective solution would be to extract the enzyme from the fungus that can biodegrade plastic. The enzyme would mix with non-toxic chemicals. The ami of this is to create a cheap product that can be sold at supermarkets (similar to cleaning products). Even Though this idea would be much more easier to use, and has more benefits, the process for the extraction of the enzyme is really hard and expensive. The objective would be to find an easier way to extract the enzyme so as the product could be sold cheaper and everyone in the country could have one.
To conclude, our aim is to show our project in an investor’s website such as Kickstarter or GoFundMe, in this way the ideas could get viral and be financed by those who are interested. For more information about this project please watch the video below.