WHAT’S HAPPENING
Fish waste plastic substitute wins big
Lucy Hughes, a student at the University of Sussex (pictured, right),
has won the international prize of the 2019 James Dyson Awards
for MarinaTex. This invention of hers aims to solve the problem
of single-use plastic by harnessing organic waste from the sh
processing industry to create a plastic alternative.
MarinaTex is a bioplastic made of organic sh waste ordinarily
destined for land ll or incineration, and locally-sourced red algae.
It is a translucent and exible sheet material, making it an ideal
alternative material for single-use packaging.
The material is said to be relatively resource-light, requiring little
energy to produce. It biodegrades after four to six weeks, is suitable
for home composting and does not leach toxins, removing the need
for its own national waste management infrastructure. As MarinaTex
uses byproducts from the shing industry, it also helps to close
the loop of an existing waste stream for a more circular product
lifespan. According to Hughes, one Atlantic cod could generate as
much organic waste needed to make 1,400 bags of MarinaTex.
Sir James Dyson said: “The James Dyson Award received some
‘Rain garden’
installed
Specially-designed rain gardens and
pavements which absorb rainwater and
slowly release it in to the sewer network
have been unveiled by Thames Water
in London. The gardens in Godolphin
Road, Shepherd’s Bush, are the rst to
be installed by the company as part of
an effort to relieve pressure on sewers
in the city during periods of heavy rain.
Instead of rainwater running off hard
paving and tarmac in to drains, where
it can overwhelm the sewer network,
it is instead soaked up in to crates
installed underground and gradually let
in to the network. The gardens are fed
by surrounding permeable paving which
also allows rainwater to pass through
the gaps between paving stones and
absorb into the base underneath. They
form a type of sustainable drainage
system (SuDS).
The permeable paving is part
of Thames Water’s Counters Creek
Flood Alleviation Scheme, due to be
completed by March 2020.
thought-provoking ideas this
year…Ultimately, we decided
to pick the idea the world
could least do without.
MarinaTex elegantly solves
two problems: the ubiquity
of single-use plastic and
sh waste.”
As international
winner, Hughes will
receive £30,000, which will be put
toward further research. She was previously named as
the national (UK) winner, which came with a £2,000 prize.
In response to winning the international prize, Hughes professed
delight. She added that although the invention is still in its infancy,
“I’m excited to now have the chance to undertake further research
and development to explore all of the possible uses of MarinaTex,
taking into account form, function and footprint.”
Member awarded
for standards leadership
Phil Childs MIED has been recognised for
leadership in the 2019 BSi Standards Maker
Awards. He is chair of the technical product
realisation (TPR/1) committee.
The commendation reads: “Phil has
overseen the transition away from the UK’s
much-loved engineering drawings standard,
BS 308 – which was withdrawn in 2000 – to
the ongoing development and improvement of
the unique national framework standard, BS
8888. Providing support and encouragement to
all of the subcommittees and chairs under the
TPR/1 banner, Phil’s stewardship of this area
has seen the committee grow and expand to
cover all aspects of engineering design, product
speci cation, and product veri cation from its
original technical drawing roots.”
Left to right: Elena Santiago Cid, director
general of European Committees
for Standardisation and Electrotechnical
Standardisation
(CEN and CENELEC),
Phil Childs MIED,
Scott Steedman, BSi
director of
standards.
BS 8888, revised in 2017, explains the
way in which engineering drawings outline and
present technical speci cation of products
and their component parts, and covers all of
the symbology and information that engineers
and designers need to include on their
drawings, whether they are produced in 2D or
in 3D, created using CAD systems and/or 3D
modelling, according to BSi.
Childs also served as leader of the UK
delegation to the ISO technical committee for
geometrical product speci cation and veri cation
(ISO/TC 213), one of the two international
committees mirrored by TPR/1. As a result,
the UK took the secretariat of ISO/TC 2013
in 2017, which means that BSi leads the way
internationally on the subject, the award says.
www.ied.org.uk 31
/www.ied.org.uk