For The First Time Ever: Edible Biodegradable Plastic
Gaza(QNN)- Chemistry graduate, Ibrahim Saad, invented new edible biodegradable smart plastic made of cellulose only, which makes it eco-friendly.
Ibrahim found that tons of conventional plastic, which is made of oil, are being dramatically accumulated in the world, as it is non biodegradable, which pushed him to find a solution, which could rescue our planet.
“After several months of thinking, I got to the idea of the edible “bio plastic”, and I made many experiments until I succeeded,” said Saad to QNN Arabic.
“Bio plastic is made of cellulose only as a base material, and we add some chemicals and use magnetic resonance to process it then we get the plastic melt in an organic solvent”, Saad explained. “After that we put it in molds to get the final product”.
“The special thing about this bio plastic, which I invented together with my colleagues Yusra Halabi, Yousef Ghannam, and Ru’a Darwish is that it is able to be recycled hundreds of times without heat and it will never lose its physical and chemical properties”, Saad said.
“It is also smart. It cleans itself when it is exposed to light, as it releases small portions of acetic acid, which is able to kill microbes and germs on its surface”, he added.
Saad decided to create a team to work on his idea and participate in Hult Prize in order to get financial support, which would help him fulfill his dream and bring his idea to light.
After winning the first place in a competition held in Al Azhar University, the team got invitations to fly to Dubai in the beginning of March, however Saad expressed his fear of losing this chance due to the lack of financial support and the Israeli siege on Gaza.
