b'SURFACE WATER8 ALTERNATIVES TO5 PresseD Hay anD SINGLE-USE PLASTICS Banana Leaves Straightforward options for 3 8 replacing plastic packagingBamboo include those that use plants to It is estimated that more than 100wrap goods and products. Two million plastic utensils are usedof the most popular are pressed each day in the United States.hay and banana leaves. Both One promising alternative isare highly sustainable and bamboo cutlery.compostable because theyre plants. There are many advantages to usingIn a supermarket, its hard to not bamboo. It grows rapidlyup to fivesee products that are shipped in feet per year! Bamboo is a grass, sopressed hay, like eggs, or those replanting is not necessary afterwrapped in banana leaves, like harvesting. It is also naturallyveggies. Because of this, the antibacterial, and cutlery madeplastic alternatives help to from it is non-toxic. Finally,communicate to consumers that bamboo cutlery can be compostedtheyre environmentally friendly after useit decomposes in lessoptions from the outset.10 than three months, depending onThese options are relatively new the conditions.in the realm of alternatives to In addition to cutlery, bamboo cansingle-use plastics, but both are also be used to produce straws,gaining in popularity.clothing, and bioethanol fuel.Corn-baseDMushroom 6 114 PlasticsPackaging9Polylactic acid, from corn, has great Mushroom-based packaging material canpotential for helping ease the be grown within a week in a controlledburden of single-use plastics. Made environment. It is durable and hasfrom a renewable resource and reasonable production costs. Unlikerecyclable, corn-based plastics Styrofoam, it only takes a few weeksare environmentally sustainable to decompose completely. and easy to explain to those skeptical of green packaging.Agricultural waste such as husk,oat hulls, and cotton burrs serve asIn large-scale applications, the raw material used to producecorn-based plastics are formed mushroom packaging. into puffy resin pellets that can be manipulated into any shape. Some The raw material is pressed intolarge companies, distributors, and the desired shape, then seededretailers, including multinational with mushroom spores. After a fewgrocery store chains, have started days, the spores sprout myceliumto use corn-based plastics in that thread through the material,their inventories. ultimately binding it all together.This single-use plastic The new packaging material is alternative is making strides heat-treated to kill spores andand is environmentally friendly, prevent further growth.but composting it is challenging. It can biodegrade over a period of Due to the benefits of mushroom- 90 days, but only within industrial based packaging, companies like facilities that apply microbes and heat IKEA have announced it will use it tofor long periods of timebackyard replace Styrofoam for all its products. composting simply wont do the trick.16 MISSION: WATER'