{"id":6875,"date":"2021-08-23T03:17:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T03:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/?post_type=spotlight&p=6875"},"modified":"2021-09-03T19:08:09","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T19:08:09","slug":"this-is-the-place-to-make-plastic-100-compostable","status":"publish","type":"spotlight","link":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/spotlight\/this-is-the-place-to-make-plastic-100-compostable\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the place to make plastic 100% compostable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the place to make plastic 100% compostable<\/h1>\n\n
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University of Toronto startup EcoPackers turns plant waste into compostable plastic that could revolutionize the single-use packaging industry.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, EcoPackers co-founder Nuha Siddiqui (BCom 2018) read a World Wildlife Fund report about marine pollution. \u201cIt really hit me,\u201d she says. \u201cThey stated that by 2050, there would be more plastic than fish in our ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then a second year business major at the University of Toronto, Siddiqui enlisted the help of fellow members of the U of T social innovation club Enactus to research marine plastic. The biggest culprit? Disposable (think food trays or bubble wrap) as opposed to long-term plastics (think toys or Tupperware). The $83-billion North American market alone discards eight million tons of single-use plastic into the ocean every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to green single-use packaging\u2014 with 100 per cent compostable \u2018plastic\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Changing consumer habits is hard, so Siddiqui envisioned creating plastic alternatives\u2014materials that would let people keep buying bagged green beans, bottled shampoo or coffee-to-go without hurting the planet. As a first step, her Enactus team made packing peanuts from food byproducts. They could be tossed in home compost bins. \u201cI would often eat one of the peanuts to show people how natural they were,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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