Seaweed derived Films to displace hard to recycle plastics

众所周知，混合材料中含有或隐藏的塑料很难回收。回收设施没有资源来分离混合材料，这意味着其他可回收的物品，如带窗的信封和湿纸巾，最终会被填埋。这些“隐藏的”塑料产生了大量的废物。例如，全球每年生产6500亿个信封（其中30%含有塑料），产生11万吨塑料废物。FlexSea的愿景是从海藻和其他天然、可持续来源的产品中提取的可堆肥生物聚合物材料的碳负解决方案。FlexSea薄膜是一种完全可生物降解的一次性塑料替代品。它的生产有利于当地的小社区，通过保护海岸线和种植海藻来保护环境，海藻是一种有效的碳隔离剂。FlexSea材料在自然环境中完全可生物降解，在回收过程中被冲走。我们的解决方案与全球有效的EPR战略保持一致，该战略要求公司在产品使用后对其包装负责。在这个项目中，我们将：-提高FlexSea透明膜的防水性和机械强度。-分析水屏障和机械性能，以确定合适的应用，如开窗信封。-我们会对我们的薄膜进行生态毒性测试，以确保采用我们的解决方案对环境有利。-我们将在不同的用例中评估我们的解决方案的可扩展性和集成，重点关注窗口信封。

Plastics contained or concealed in mixed materials are notoriously difficult to recycle. Recycling facilities do not have resources to separate mixed materials, meaning otherwise-recyclable items like windowed envelopes and wet wipes end up in landfill. These 'hidden' plastics generate significant waste. For example, 650 billion envelopes are produced annually worldwide (30% contain plastic), generating 110kt of plastic waste.FlexSea's vision is a carbon-negative solution of a compostable biopolymer material, derived from seaweed and other natural, sustainably sourced products. FlexSea Film is a fully biodegradable alternative to single-use plastics. Its production benefits small local communities, the environment by protecting coastlines and cultivating seaweed, an effective carbon sequester. Being entirely biodegradable in natural environments, FlexSea material is washed away in the recycling process.Our solution aligns with EPR strategies in force globally, which require companies to be responsible for their packaging after the product has been used.In this project we will:-Improve the water barrier and mechanical strength of FlexSea transparent films.-Analyse water barrier and mechanical properties to establish suitable application, like windowed envelopes.-We will perform ecotoxicity testing of our films to ensure environmental benefits for the adoption of our solution.-We will evaluate the scalability and integration of our solution within different use cases, focusing on windowed envelopes.