Replace single use plastics with skin

I am inspired by the 4Ocean campaign, but it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem: Society’s dependency on single use plastics.

I can’t change society, but can I change plastic? Well we’d need to find something that’s just as durable, easy to produce, can be eaten by wildlife, or biodegrades quickly.

So I set my mind to this task a few days ago. Today, when using a butter knife to spread avocado on my sons sandwich I marveled at how nature comes with packaging. And I thought, well… what about skin? It’s packaging. Can it replace plastic? It’s amazingly durable, it’s mostly see through, and you can grow it in a laboratory.

So what if we were to take the process from the laboratory to the factory and grow our plastic bags? You’re instant reaction is probably “Ew”, but the funny thing is that we’ve been carrying stuff around in skin (albeit animal) since we were cavemen. We still do. Anyone carried a leather bag? Skin. Carrying around a “plastic bag” made of skin would be normalised in no time flat.

I’m hoping that this means that single use plastics end up being something that wildlife can swallow and actually digest.

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