{"id":16177,"date":"2022-05-23T14:42:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T18:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=16177"},"modified":"2022-05-31T12:34:18","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:34:18","slug":"better-bioplastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/better-bioplastics\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Bioplastics, Cleaner Beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16641\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1336\" height=\"891\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale.jpeg 1336w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1336px) 100vw, 1336px\" \/>Beach cleanups and trash wheels are great, but what if the materials used to make the plastic packaging littering beaches and waterways were not only biodegradable but also made from nature itself\u2014from plants?<\/p>\n<p>Alden Murphy, a master\u2019s degree student in <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/\">materials science and engineering<\/a>, is looking into methods for developing a new kind of bioplastic to fill that niche. Inspired by the cans, bottles, straws, and other detritus she has seen littering the beaches of Tybee Island, Georgia, where she grew up, she wants to create food packaging that is not only environmentally friendly but also costs less and appeals to consumers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided it may be nearly impossible to keep people from littering and focused instead on making trash more biodegradable and safer for the environment,\u201d says Murphy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Beach cleanups and trash wheels are great, but what if the materials used to make the plastic packaging littering beaches and waterways were not only biodegradable but also made from nature itself\u2014from plants? Alden Murphy, a master\u2019s degree student in materials science and engineering, is looking into methods for developing a new kind of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":16641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","issue-spring-2022"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Better Bioplastics, Cleaner Beaches - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/better-bioplastics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Better Bioplastics, Cleaner Beaches - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beach cleanups and trash wheels are great, but what if the materials used to make the plastic packaging littering beaches and waterways were not only biodegradable but also made from nature itself\u2014from plants?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/better-bioplastics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-23T18:42:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-31T16:34:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/JHU3672-greyscale.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"891\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\"},\"headline\":\"Better Bioplastics, Cleaner Beaches\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-23T18:42:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-31T16:34:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":136,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/JHU3672-greyscale.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/better-bioplastics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Better Bioplastics, Cleaner Beaches - 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