Lucy Hughes is an eco-inventor, graduate from Sussex, who just won the James Dyson Award’s international prize for her invention of a biodegradable and compostable plastic made from fish waste, called ‘MarinaTex.’ She developed this transparent film from fish waste in the hopes of fighting plastic pollution and food waste at the same time.
She first created MarinaTex while still in school. It was part of her product design degree course. To make it, she took the waste products of the fishing industry, specifically the fish scales and skin. It’s the proteins in them that she uses. After roughly 100 attempts, she perfected the recipe. Much of the work to produce the plastic was done in her own kitchen!
The final product is a compostable substitute to single-use plastic that is being praised as a ‘breakthrough’ invention. What’s most impressive is that it solves two problems at the same time: the pervasiveness of single-use plastic and fish waste. Many people believe MarinaTex has the potential to drastically reduce our reliance on plastic packaging that doesn’t degrade.
It’s intended to be used as a replacement plastic in food and drink packaging. According to global figures, 40% of plastic produced for packaging is used once and thrown away. MarinaTex could be one of the eco-friendly alternatives. It will break down in food waste bins or a home compost within four to six weeks.
Earlier this year, Hughes won the James Dyson Award’s top national prize in the UK. There were 1,079 top national and runner-up winners from 28 different countries that then competed for the international prize. She won it with MarinaTex!
The James Dyson Award challenges young people to “design something that solves a problem.” Students and recent graduates in industrial design, product design, and engineering are eligible to enroll. Sir James Dyson’s said:
Young engineers have the passion, awareness, and intelligence to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Ultimately, we decided to pick the idea the world could least do without. MarinaTex elegantly solves two problems: the ubiquity of single-use plastic and fish waste.
The James Dyson Award isn’t the only contest she won. Another helpful award includes a prize from Plus X in Brighton, which will provide her with a workspace and mentoring for six months.
Hughes said:
Plastic is an amazing material and as a result, we have become too reliant on it. It makes no sense that we’re using plastic for products that have a life cycle of less than a day. I’m excited to have the chance to undertake further research and development to explore all possible uses.
Hughes wants to be a part of the solution to the plastic pollution crisis. She wants to be part of the reason that there won’t be more plastic in our oceans than fish by weight within three decades.
