The group volunteers with the Really Small Science team and helps to develop
new outreach activities based on our research. Find out more about
Sustainable Plastics and The Soymilk Challenge below.
Sustainable Plastics
Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging
In the video, Karen and Kasia talk about the research developing
Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging to tackle the issue of plastic
waste in the UK. The project aims to optimise compostable plastics
for use in food packaging, which will reduce the reliance on
petroleum-based plastic while keeping food fresh and reducing food waste.
Potato Plastic
Most of the plastic which we use every day comes from
petrochemical (fossil fuels), which are an unsustainable
resource. These plastics don't break down naturally and need
to be recycled. Scientists and engineers are creating
bioplastics produced from renewable biomass sources, some of
which can be composted after we use them. In this video Sylvia, talks about bioplastics and demonstrates how we
can make plastic from potatoes!
The Soymilk Challenge
Soymilk is an environmentally-friendly alternative to dairy milk but
sometimes it 'curdles' when added to coffee (see image). This is
pretty unappetising! So how can we stop it happening?
During an outreach event we get the public to do some simple experiments with coffee and
soymilk. Everyone has the opportunity to do their own experiment and
add their results to a graph. We can then see which concentrations
and temperature caused the soy milk to curdle.
Science Late: Taste, Glasgow Science Center, August 2017
Read our article about the Soymilk Challenge in
Vegan Connections magazine!
