27/05/2018
Sustainability: Where to?
Sustainability is not just about net zero energy, passive house, and smarter building design. Sustainability goes much further than that and can be a part of our everyday living. The thing is, that planet Earth will not survive unless humans help it, rather than destroy it slowly. Here’s a couple of clever ideas that have taken sustainability that extra step into our lives.
1. Edible food packaging
Graduate Roza Janusz has created an alternative to plastic food packaging, which is made from organic material and can either be eaten after use, or composted. The material is a membrane made of bacteria and yeast, which is created through a fermentation process. The material is fermented in a room with a temperature of between 25 to 25 degrees celsius, before being placed in moulds. It does not need sunlight to grow. It is designed to store dry or semi-dry foods, including seeds, nuts, herbs and salad.
2. Manchester United’s Shirt made from ocean plastic
Adidas has continued its collaboration with environmental initiative Parley for the Oceans by creating a Manchester United Football Club kit from recycled ocean plastic. The sportswear brand worked with environmental organisation to create the kit from ocean plastic, to highlight the issue of marine pollution.
3. Concrete from desert sand
A team of scientists in the UK have developed a biodegradable construction material made from desert sand – a resource that has until now been useless for construction.
Called Finite, the material was developed by a group from Imperial College London. It is as strong as concrete but has half the carbon footprint. The world is facing a potentially disastrous sand shortage, hence the start-up's name, Finite.
The breakthrough comes amid increasing concern about the world's dwindling supplies of construction-grade sand, which are an essential ingredient in concrete.
