University student creates “biodegradable plastic”
05/06/2020
The method was developed by Textiles for Fashion student, Geedanjana Inthirakumaran, who sought advice from the school’s science and textile teams. To make the biodegradable plastic, ingredients are mixed, heated and left to dry, resulting in sheets of plastic.
According to the university, the mixture can also be poured into moulds during the drying process to create bespoke patterns, textures and shapes. Ultimately, the textiles pieces and mouldings can be developed for clothing and accessories, including bags.
“As much as textiles can be beautiful, the processes produce a lot of CO2 emissions, due to dying, printing or manipulation,” said Ms Geedanjana to the university’s news publication. “Most of the time the fabric itself is made using harsh processes that either harm animals or nature. As a student, I realised how much damage I was doing when creating my own textiles previously, especially keeping in mind I am just one person out of many involved in the fashion industry.”
She was investigating more ecologically sound methods of creating materials for her final year textile collection, ultimately deciding to explore biotextiles.
Geedanjana said: “It was exciting to be able to create something which I think will be in demand in the future. We already see that agar plastic bags are a thing, and many small businesses are researching and working on improving the qualities of this plastic. Biotextiles may be the only textiles we know in the future.”
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