Introduction

With plastic products and packaging all around us, it's easy to feel there's no alternative.  In this first section of the Challenge, we'll take a look at an exciting area of sustainable design innovation: bioplastics. These are plastic alternatives that can be made from renewable resources such as vegetable fats and oils, kombucha, corn starch, straw, woodchips, coconut shells, sawdust, and recycled food waste. When processes are applied to these materials they can offer alternatives to plastic packaging while reducing the negative impact on the environment.  

This first step of our Challenge gives you some examples or precedents of how creative people and organisations are developing plastic alternatives.  Doing precedent research is your first step in designing a new packaging solution.

PART A: Precedent Review 

To find and explore a series of interesting bioplastic and plastic-alternative precedents, click here. You can also access this information at any time using the Novel Alternatives to Plastic tab above. 

PART B: Activity (to be included in your final submission):  

Pick one of the precedents to further explore using the included link. Write 2-3 sentences about why you found that particular material interesting and what potential you see for it to reduce plastic waste in future. 

>> Proceed to Step 2. 

<<To return to the Challenge steps, click here.