By Alana Harris, Staff Writer.
Lucy Hughes, a University of Sussex product design graduate, won this year’s prestigious James Dyson Award for her innovative plastic alternative.
Hughes won the prestigious and highly sought after award by creating an alternative to single use plastics made from fish offcuts – her plastic alternative is made from fish waste which otherwise would end up at landfill and locally sourced red alage.
The material, MarinaTex, not only eliminates single use plastic but also is compostable with it being able to break down in just four to six weeks. The material, which is translucent and pliable, can be used for numerous single use products such as plastic bags, sandwich packaging and tissue boxes.
Hughes said:
“For me, MarinaTex represents a commitment to material innovation and selection by incorporating sustainable, local and circular values into design. As creators, we should not limit ourselves to designing to just form and function, but rather form, function and footprint.”
The material is resource light and doesn’t put strain on any natural resources and also requires low-energy input to produce.
The UK is reported to produce close to 500,000 tonnes of waste through fish processing – Hughes responded to this fact by pointing out that just one Atlantic cod can produce 1,400 MarinaTex bags. Hughes is currently seeking to commercialise MarinaTex, using her prize money to research how her invention could become a widely used solution for the issue of plastic waste.
MarinaTex was developed as Hughes’ final year university project, it was developed across numerous experiments in her university accommodation kitchen.
Winning the national Dyson award, Hughes received £2,000 to help develop her innovation further but she is in with the chance to win £30,000 at the Dyson international phase in November.
The Top 20 applicants will be picked out of over 1000 applicants – the winner will be announced at the international stage of the awards on 17th October 2019, by Sir Richard Dyson himself.