UK awards funds to innovative green projects including bioeconomy solutions

October 24, 2018 |

In the UK, dissolving seaweed sauce sachets and technology inspired by a suckerfish to remove plastics from rivers are among 11 innovative projects to win the backing of a GBP4 million government fund to clean up the environment.

To showcase the ground-breaking research being led by UK scientists and innovators during Green GB & NI Week, the Business Secretary Greg Clark announced the winners of a competition to develop new products or processes to end the scourge of plastic waste. Moving to a greener, cleaner economy which helps protect the environment is a key part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.

Among the winners are Skipping Rocks Lab in London, whose state-of-the-art facility is working on a scheme which could make the sight of single-use condiment sachets on takeaway counters a thing of the past by replacing plastic packaging with seaweed. The material, which has successfully been used as an alternative to the plastic water bottle, biodegrades as fast as a piece of fruit and is cheaper than plastic.

Other successful companies to win government funding include:

Ichthion: Filters out plastic clogging up the UK’s waterways with a boat-mounted vacuum which mimics the way remora fish feed

Axion: Recycles plastics like car bumpers and motorcycle helmets, currently sent to landfill, and turns them into plastic pellets for moulding into new products such as bins or cables

Polymateria: Makes biodegradable plastic which lets you put packaging straight into the compost with your food waste

Category: Research

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