Scientists Developed Algae-Based Renewable Footwear
The leather is so far widely used to produce the qualitative footwear, now, breaking the stereotypes, scientists have come up with the esteemed quality footwear made from the algae. By indulging in certain chemical processes, it is now believed that the footwear can be made which will have far better benefits than we have never expected of.
These renewable flip-flops are alternative to the widely used petroleum having footwear made in countries like India and China. Nearly 3 billion footwears are produced in such a way throughout the worldwide each year, eventually ending up as non-biodegradable trash in landfills, rivers, and oceans around the globe.
Stephen Mayfield, a professor at University of California San Diego in the US has said, “Even though a flip-flop seems like a minor product, a throwaway that everyone wears, it turns out that this is the Number one shoe in the world. These are the shoes of a fisherman and a farmer. This is the number one footwear in India, China and in Africa.”
“One of the largest pollutants in the ocean is polyurethane from flip-flops and other shoes that have been washed or thrown into rivers and flow into the ocean,” added Mayfield.
Further, the researchers concluded that these products consist of a flexible, spongy slipper and a simple strap altogether.
Talking about the introduction of this, Mayfield said, “Petroleum comes from algae that lived in the ancient oceans hundreds of millions of years ago, a lot of people do not know that. But what that means is that anything we can make from petroleum we can ultimately make from algae.”
Meanwhile, the researchers added that the flip-flops, shoe soles and other polyurethane products scientists make from living algae oil are sustainable in nature because the carbon to construct them was pulled from the atmosphere, rather than underground oil reserves.
On a brief note, researchers are also striving to make them ‘biodegradable’ by chemically converting the algae oil into polyurethane in a manner that will allow the carbon bonds to be degraded by microorganisms.
Concluding this, Mayfield said, “The idea we are pursuing is to make these flip-flops in a way that they can be thrown into a compost pile and they will be eaten by microorganisms.”
Source: allindiaroundup
