The Hong Kong government has been keen on reducing the use of plastic bags in the territory because plastic is causing major environmental threats. Conventional plastics made from petroleum literally take millions of years to degrade, which adds to the already heavy burden of our landfills. Of course, “reduce, reuse and recycle” is exactly what we should do. But we might as well start thinking about using more eco-friendly alternatives, such as biodegradable plastic. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are plastics that can be completely degraded to water and carbon dioxide. Yet, because of its steep cost of production, PHAs haven’t caught on yet.
That’s why Professor Chua Hong, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, started looking at the possibility of making biodegradable plastics from industrial effluents. He successfully produced PHAs out of wastewater, thereby significantly cutting down on the cost of production. On one hand, he gets rid of the industrial waste. On the other, the green plastic he made would not strain our ecosystem. Isn’t it the best of both worlds?
The project won the Gold Medal in the 2008 International Trade Fair >>Ideas-Inventions-New Products<< at Nuremberg, Germany.
