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Researchers develop ‘transparent paper’ as alternative to plastics
<p>A team of researchers with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and other entities have developed thick sheets of transparent paper using cellulose, a material made from plant biomass.</p>
Photos courtesy of JAMSTECA cup and a straw made of the newly developed transparent paperSo far, paper packs have been the most common alternatives to plastic containers. Noriyuki Isobe, a deputy chief researcher for JAMSTEC, said, “If a plant for demonstration experiments of the technology is built, we estimate that the cost to produce the material will be about three times that of ordinary paper, while the volume of CO2 emissions can be kept to about half that of the plastic making process.” Prof. Masaya Nogi of the University of Osaka, an expert on wooden materials, said, “There have been other types of transparent paper in the past, but the advantage of this over those is that it has been proven to be biodegradable in the deep sea.”
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