Biobased polycarbonate breakthrough, seaweed diapers, bamboo toothbrushes, one cow’s manure can power Toyota’s new Mirai hydrogen car and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of October 31st

It’s Halloween and things are getting pretty scary out there with stinky, petroleum based, disposable, plastic diapers and plastic toothbrushes being discarded all over the world but have no fear, for a new seaweed-based reusable diaper and Colgate’s new bamboo toothbrush is here to save the day! But wait there’s other news that will calm your eco-worried head this Halloween – from tulip power for skincare to South Korean researchers reporting a biobased polycarbonate breakthrough and word that one single cow’s manure can power Toyota’s new Mirai hydrogen car for an entire year. Get these and more innovations for the week of October 31st.

In today’s Digest, the Top 10 innovations of the week that aren’t scaring anyone except maybe petroleum companies — ready for you now at The Digest online.

#1 Swiss student invents seaweed-based reusable diaper

In Switzerland, design student Luisa Kahlfeldt has developed a disposable diaper made from seaweed and eucalyptus.

For the inner layers of the diapers, Kahlfeldt, a student at ECAL, used SeaCell fiber, a material that has the added bonus of being antibacterial and good for baby’s skin. The outer, waterproof layer is made from EcoRepel, a biodegradable waterproof fabric produced by Schoeller. The diapers are call Sumo, because babies wearing them look like little sumo wrestlers.

Twenty billion diapers—equating to 3.5 million tons of non-biodegradable plastic waste—end up in American landfills annually, according to the EPA. The seaweed diapers also offer an alternative to reusable cotton diapers, which, like all cotton garments, require large amounts of water to generate.
More on the story, here.