Move over plastic, use cacti

MEXICO: RESEARCHER DEVELOPS BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING FROM PRICKLY PEARS

From 2021, straws, plastic plates and cutlery and balloons will be banned.

Mexico’s prickly pear cactus, which is emblazoned on the country’s flag, could soon play a new role in the production of biodegradable plastics.

A packaging material made from the plant has been developed by a Mexican researcher and is offering a solution to one of the world’s biggest pollution conundrums.

“The pulp is strained to obtain a juice that I then use,” said Sandra Pascoe, who developed the product and works at the Atemajac Valley University in the western city of Guadalajara.

That substance is mixed with non-toxic additives and stretched

to produce sheets which are folded to form different types of packaging.

“We are trying to concentrate on objects that don’t have a long life,” she said, particularly “single-use” packaging.

Pascoe is still conducting tests, but hopes to patent her product later this year and look for partners, with an eye towards larger-scale production.

The cacti Pascoe uses come from San Esteban, a small town on the outskirts of Guadalajara. San Esteban is located in Jalisco state where, starting next year, single-use non-recyclable plastic bags, straws and other disposable items will be banned.

Mexico City and states such as Baja California have introduced similar measures. In May, the capital city adopted a ban on plastic bags beginning in 2020.

From 2021, straws, plastic plates and cutlery and balloons will also be banned if they’re made “entirely or partially from plastic,” according to the Bill

More than 8m tons of plastics enter the oceans