The University of San Diego California has created a line of biodegradable flip flops made from algae-based polyurethane.
These shoes are designed to decompose in 18 weeks, so they’re maybe not the most cost-effective shoe in the world, but they won’t stick around for 100s of years. 18 weeks seems a little quick to me (surely a year or 2 would be more practical?) but I’m sure they can tinker with this stuff down the line.
As reported in CNN:
“After hundreds of attempts, the researchers successfully created a polyurethane foam that is 52% biocontent and 48% petroleum. Within five years, they hope to make a product that uses 100% renewable materials. ‘For now, this is as good as you’re going to find anywhere. No one has been able to achieve that much renewability,’ Burkart [University Professor] said.”
The researchers are said to be looking for solutions to plastic-based flip flops, which are apparently the world’s #1 most popular shoe. But as we know, plastic obviously has unwanted environmental effects due to its lack of biodegrading.
