A chemistry student in Newfoundland may have discovered an alternative to plastic using fish guts.
In a St. John鈥檚 lab, Memorial University master鈥檚 student Courtney Laprise works with oils extracted from waste products such as fish heads and intestines.
Yes, it smells, she told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Friday -- but not once she鈥檚 done with it. The end product is what matters anyway, she said. Laprise hopes her findings could one day become a pivotal alternative to the plastics that pollute the environment.
Though the exact chemical recipe is a proprietary secret, the process involves performing several reactions with the fish oil and transferring it to a petri dish. Then the dish is put into an oven to be cured. After some time the substance becomes a 鈥渘ice plastic,鈥� said Laprise.
鈥淚t can be used as different plastics. Maybe a film or adhesive. With some other modifications there are some potential routes it could be used for,鈥� she said Friday.
It took several months of failed attempts producing only liquid substances before she eventually produced her first solid product.
A number of companies have already expressed interest in Laprise鈥檚 research. She鈥檚 particularly excited that the fish-produced alternative to plastic could mean big business for small fishing communities from her native Newfoundland.
Other sustainable efforts using fish waste are popping up around the world, including in the leather fashion industry. An Icelandic company called Atlantic Leather produces thousands of every month from salmon, perch, cod and wolffish sourced from fishing fleets in Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. They use geothermal energy for eco-friendly production, according to , unlike other forms of leather, which are associated with methane emissions. Like Laprise鈥檚 plastic alternatives, there are hopes that fish leather could boost fishing communities.
There鈥檚 still some research to be done before Laprise鈥檚 plastic becomes a viable product in the market. She鈥檚 currently studying how long it takes for the fish oil-produced product to biodegrade. Traditional plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose in the natural environment. There are a number of important tests being done now.
鈥淲hether it degrades into toxic materials,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f it just gets thrown in the landfill, will it degrade?鈥�
It鈥檚 important to Laprise that she use clean and 鈥済reen鈥� methods during all her research. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to use things that are good for the environment, safe for human health,鈥� she told Your Morning. To use less energy, for example, she uses lower temperatures in the curing process.
鈥淚f we can replace plastics that are polluting the environment, in my opinion, it is still better,鈥� she said.
