Shake Shack will combat plastic pollution and continues to find new and interesting ways to live up to its motto “Stand for Something Good.”
The latest news is that the popular retro-modern restaurant chain is taking a stand against plastic pollution. The company has introduced biodegradable straws and cutlery in some locations. In keeping with the company's extravagant image, this is no ordinary biomaterial. It is not made from plants. It is a plastic-like substance produced naturally by a microbe that lives in the ocean.
Shake Shack will combat plastic pollution
Shake Shack's latest venture is important because it provides a high-profile platform for innovative new products that can help reduce plastic pollution. Shake Shack's new straws and cutlery come from the Restore Foodware arm of biotech company Newlight Technologies.
According to TriplePundit, Newlight's new biomaterial is called AirCarbon. According to Shake Shack, the new straws and cutlery have the look and feel of plastic, but can be composted at home.
Shake Shack will combat plastic pollution with this marine creature
Shake Shack also notes that the material is made without synthetic glues or other additives.
The company plans to
Ecuador Mobile Number List distribute the new items in restaurants in West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Long Beach (California) this spring, as well as in Madison Square Park and West Village (New York) and Miami Beach (Florida).
A plastic pollution warrior like no other
The fight against plastic pollution is filling up with bio-based alternatives, but Newlight has carved out an unusual niche for itself.
Conventional single-use plastics are made from fossil energy sources such as natural gas, oil and coal. When improperly disposed of on land, fossil-based plastic items can easily travel through rivers and streams to reach the ocean, where plastic pollution has already reached crisis proportions.
Instead, AirCarbon is produced by the natural metabolism that occurs when certain ocean-dwelling organisms digest air and carbon-containing greenhouse gases dissolved in salt water. As they feast, microorganisms create and store a plastic-like material called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).
Like conventional plastic, PHB can be melted and molded into various shapes that maintain their shape when cooled. Unlike conventional plastic, PHB sequesters greenhouse gases already in the air, instead of extracting new fossil gases from the ground.
This makes PHB a form of carbon recycling, with the added advantage that it sequesters more carbon than its production requires.
The curious history of the PHB
Plant-based bioplastics are quite common. PHB and other bioplastics made by microorganisms represent another step on the sustainability ladder.
Compared to conventional crops used in the production of bioplastics, microorganisms can reduce or virtually eliminate land use problems. They can also grow and reproduce much faster than plants. In addition, the conditions for its growth and reproduction can mean greater efficiency and lower costs than conventional agriculture.
Shake Shack will combat plastic pollution
Despite the advantages, PHB has required more than a century of research to reach its commercial potential.
Newlight's AirCarbon has its roots in 1888, when the first observation of granular specks on the body of certain bacteria occurred. Forty years later, in 1927, a researcher managed to isolate and identify the specks.
Newlight Technologies was founded in 2003, almost 100 years later. The company spent ten years of research on AirCarbon, aiming to design a microorganism that could create and store much more bioplastic than it normally needs.
AirCarbon was ready for the market in 2013 and attracted the attention of early adopters such as Dell, IKEA, and Sprint.
Let's get to work to end the plastic crisis in the oceans
All that hard work paid off for Newlight. The company cites a long list of awards for AirCarbon, including:
Biomaterial of the Year, awarded by the Nova Institute.
Innovation of the Year, awarded by Popular Science.
Technological Pioneer, awarded by the World Economic Forum.
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, awarded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
