Question: How do you turn plants into plastic

James Coombs OBrien answered on 7 Mar 2015:

Good question, it’s always nice when someone asked about your research.

You have to start by taking a material called cellulose out of a plant and then dissolve it into a liquid (similar to when you dissolve sugar in tea). Once cellulose is in a liquid you can mould it into lots of different shapes depending on what you want to make. I tend to make thin sheets as they are easy to investigate but you can make any shape! You then have to wash it and dry it to make a plastic which is tough and hard

Thanks for your question!