CAMBRIDGE, Md.- It starts with a crab shell. Scientists at Georgia Tech say if you combine the shell with parts of a tree, you'll get a material similar to plastic.
Professor and researcher, Carson Meredith, says it could be a great alternative to plastics.
"This is packaging that can be used as a flexible wrapper around fresh food, around convenience foods, even around meat, vegetables, fruits, those kinds of things," Meredith said in a video from Georgia Tech.
Meredith's experiment took the material out of crab shells, called chitin, and layered it with cellulose, a material found in trees. By combining the two, Meredith created a material not too different from Saran wrap.
Morgan Tolley, general manager of AE Phillips & Son in Fishing Creek, Maryland, says the seafood company currently pays farmers to use any leftover scraps, including crab shells.
"We're currently having farmers use it as fertilizer for certain crops, Tolley said ."And it would be a pleasure to have someone just haul it away than having to haul it away ourselves."
But Tolley and another business owner, like T.L. Morris Seafood owner Josh Parker, say it isn't an experiment that surprises them. Parker says he's seen and tried other ways of using and selling off shells and scraps - none of which have been successful.
"I think everyone in this business would have interest in doing that," Parker said. "It kind of blows me away. It's definitely something I wouldn't have expected. It definitely sounds like a hard feat to get done."
Meredith says he currently does not have a name for the new material but adds it is biodegradable unlike plastic. He says the material could have some real-world applications within four to five years.
