It’s common knowledge that plastic has become a real scourge for flora and fauna. Millions of tonnes of plastic are produced every year, and only a tiny proportion of it is biodegradable. This waste, left to decompose in nature, takes several decades or even hundreds of years to degrade (it takes more than 400 years to degrade a plastic bag) and accumulates, particularly in the oceans, where it not only disrupts the habitat of marine organisms, but also kills them.
To solve this problem, researchers at Harvard University came up with the idea of mixing silk proteins with shrimp by-products to create a bioplastic. It all started with biomimicry: taking inspiration from living things, in this case an insect wing, they noticed that it combined the properties of plastic derived from fossil resources, namely flexibility, transparency and resistance. They were able to reproduce this behavior thanks to chitosan, one of the most abundant organic materials on Earth and a component of crustacean shells. The advantages of chitosan are numerous, thanks to its interesting properties and biodegradability. As shrimp waste is usually unused and present in large quantities, using this inexpensive resource would make it possible to valorize bio-waste by preventing it from being thrown away.
This biomaterial, nicknamed “Shrilk” from shrimp and silk, is flexible, resistant even when wet and, above all, fully biodegradable in just a few weeks. Another benefit is that its biodegradation releases a fertilizer that can be used to grow plants. This innovation, still under development, can be molded or injected. As it can be produced industrially, it could replace plastic in certain sectors, notably packaging and medical applications. Giving value to a by-product – the shrimp carcass – which currently has none, since it has the status of garbage, and contributing to the preservation of the environment, this innovative material is full of promise and augurs well for the future.