Dirigo Sea Farm Lab Assistant Jack Tennant tests the kelp solution, which he calls"the magic goop," at the lab facility in Blue Hill, Maine.
Rolsky and co-author Varun Kelkar were commissioned by Blueland, a sustainable cleaning company, to test whether PVA soft plastics truly biodegrade. They found that PVAs would only break down properly under perfect lab conditions. Still, the Environmental Protection Agency questions Rolsky's research. It said the paper makes assumptions about how the PVAs break down in wastewater treatment plants. And the agency recentlyMcGovern said whether or not PVAs are proven to be safe, or biodegradable, she believes there’s no need for them to be in household laundry products.
The kelp bioplastic is sent to manufacturers in reams that resemble paper. And McGovern said that step could one day be done in Maine using established technology. McGovern sources kelp from all over Maine through Atlantic Sea Farms, one of the biggest kelp companies in the country. But, if successful, the new bioplastic would likely create a demand that outpaces what Maine kelp growers can produce.