Scientists in York are working on a new type of "friendly packaging" material to replace plastic and a group has been set up to highlight their work. Janet Hewison reports

From the moment we get up in the morning and grab the shampoo bottle in the shower, plastic packaging plays a huge part in everyday life.

Thousands of milk cartons, sandwich packets, drinks bottles, supermarket food wrapping and carrier bags are used and thrown away every day, destined for landfill sites which are getting fuller every year.

At the moment two million tonnes of plastic are dumped in UK landfill sites every year and we only recycle ten per cent of plastic waste.

By 2001, European regulations demand that we recycle between 50 and 65 per cent of it - a huge increase.

That is why scientists in York are hard at work on developing a new type of packaging that can be composted. Their work is based on one of the simplest and most common natural substances - starch.

Research scientist Dr Rukmal Abeysekera and research student Andrea BenBrahim are working on a three-year project at the University of York.

Andrea said: "Plastic is being used more and more because it is more versatile than glass and consumers like it. But it can't be recycled like paper or glass to make the same product."

Rukmal said starch, by contrast, was a natural resource found in plants like wheat which was renewable and easily available.

The most familiar use of starch is as a thickener for cooking sauces, as in cornflour, or perhaps as a substance for stiffening shirt collars.

Rukmal and Andrea are hoping to process the substance, which has the consistency of talcum powder, into an all-purpose packaging material which would suit customers and the environment.

Farmers are already being encouraged to grow more non-food crops and if the research is successful, providing starch for the novel material could provide a valuable source of income for them.

And while Rukmal and Andrea are working in the labs, a new campaigning group has been set up at the university to publicise the issues surrounding their research.

Dr Eva Robards, another university scientist, is co-ordinating the Friendly Packaging project with a steering group, which has representatives from across the city.

She said the Friendly Packaging campaign would involve setting up a web site, open days, visiting schools, newsletters and a stand at the Science Week event at the Yorkshire Museum in March.

It would look at what customers wanted from packaging - its appearance, the ease of opening it, hygiene, but above all that it was environmentally friendly.

The target group would be people aged between 15 and 24 living in the York area.

Eva said: "We need better packaging and we need research to get a better quality of packaging.

"New packaging matters for healthier people and a healthier world."

If the researchers at the university get there before their competitors, that healthier world could start here in York.

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