Weather of Arabia - In a world full of environmental challenges and increasing plastic problems, sometimes impressive success stories emerge of inspired individuals who decide to change the world with their creativity. In Britain, there is a young designer who has an exceptional vision towards plastic pollution, and she wants to achieve sustainability and offer the world more than just an environmental solution. ; She wants to turn plastic waste into food that everyone can taste, and this brilliant idea is evident in her making vanilla ice cream from recycled plastic.
British designer Eleonora Ortolani says that she is the first to achieve a unique and innovative achievement, which is to recycle plastic and turn it into vanilla ice cream. Although no one has tasted it yet, she believes that its taste will be completely similar to regular vanilla ice cream.
This bold project was part of the journey of Eleonora Ortolani , an aspiring designer studying at Central Saint Martins School of Design, where she decided to start something that no one had dared before, at least to her knowledge; She broke into a completely different world, turning a small amount of recycled plastic into an incredible flavor of ice cream and naming her bold project “ Guilty Flavors” , which was inspired by her extreme disillusionment with mainstream plastic recycling processes that turn plastic into products that are difficult to recycle again. , because it is mixed with resins and other materials that make the problem more complicated, as the idea came to her mind in conjunction with the news indicating the presence of worms capable of digesting plastic bags recently, and Eleonora began to wonder if there was a way for humans to face these challenges, and be able to get rid of Plastic permanently.
Speaking to Dezeen magazine, Eleonora Ortolani said:
“I could never have imagined that one day I would actually make food out of plastic.” “It was difficult for me to find someone interested in working with me on this project.”
But eventually, Eleonora Ortolani was able to find the help she was looking for in Joanna Sadler , a food scientist and researcher at London Metropolitan University, who is affiliated with the University of Edinburgh.
Sadler helped her manufacture synthetic vanillin from plastic. Vanillin is a substance used as a less expensive substitute for vanilla flavor, and you find it in our everyday products in supermarkets. Vanillin and plastic are produced from the same raw material, which is crude oil. This is what made it possible, as it requires an enzyme. To break the strong bonds of molecules in the structure of plastic, and another enzyme to convert these molecules into vanillin.
Dr Joanna Sadler, a biotechnology specialist at the University of Edinburgh, says:
“Once you break down plastics, in this case PET, once you break them down into their building blocks, which we call monomers, you can turn them into many, many different things.”
Although the resulting substance smells exactly like vanillin, Ortolani and everyone else has not yet tasted it . This is because this product is the first of its kind in the world. It is considered a completely new ingredient, and is subject to comprehensive study and evaluation by bodies. Food safety, and the designer hopes that this achievement will spark an important discussion about recycling issues and how we look at industrial and natural products.
Dr. Joanna Sadler points out that she has received strong feedback for her research on plastic decomposition and recycling for use as raw materials, and is clear that products such as ice cream made from plastic will not be available in local grocery stores in the near future, and adds:
“I've had a lot of people email me saying it's irresponsible to encourage people to eat plastic. And I think there's maybe a misconception about what it actually is at the end of the process, which is that it's no longer plastic. But I think it's part of that, And it's really important that we take the safety aspect of it really seriously, and make it very clear that this product has to go through exactly the same regulatory and food standards processes as any other food ingredient according to health standards. Accordingly, the products will be safe to consume once these processes are over, and they will come closer of other consumer products.
In the meantime, Eleonora Ortolani hopes that the Guilty Flavors project will contribute to sparking a lively discussion about plastic pollution. Ortolani said:
“If I told you that an ingredient in this ice cream comes from plastic waste, you might be disgusted. But once you realize that everything ultimately falls under the same ecosystem, it makes perfect sense. We have to fundamentally change our thinking about how we eat and how we eat.” "We envision it. I'm not saying we should look at the future of food as something completely artificial or processed, but for me it's a matter of striking a balance."
As the problem of plastic waste accumulation continues to worsen and the impacts of climate change increase, researchers and scientists remain committed to searching for innovative solutions to address pressing environmental challenges. The Guilty Flavors project is a simple and distinctive example of the futuristic approach necessary to address everyday environmental issues, and it is the beginning of a journey that can hold with it the potential to achieve more. Achievements to reduce plastic pollution and contribute to making our world a more sustainable place.
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