As the world takes note of the harmful effects of the plastic and the colossal damage it is doing to the environment, one material that has the potential to be an alternative to plastic or glass is 'transparent wood'
This special kind of wood can be used to make biomedical equipement, windshields for automobiles and plastic-like packaging, according to a study.
German scientist Siegfried Fink created the first transparent wood in 1992, which was over the time refined by many other researchers. So how did he do that?
Fink managed to remove the lignin and its brownish chromopheres in wood and replace that with transparent material. Lignin is a naturally occuring biopolymer material that is non-toxic and supports plant tissue.
Transparent wood, which is increasingly becoming popular, is created by using tiny slices of wood, which is stronger than usual wood but lighter in weight.
According to data, the world creates over 350 tonnes of plastic waste every year and hence, efforts are being made to come up with an alternative as soon as possible.
Prodyut Dhar, a study author and assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology's biochemical engineering department, said that transparent wood can be used to replace petroleum-based plastic which causes harm to the eniviroment, phys.org reported.
A recent study that came out in the journal Science of The Total Environment, talks about how transparent wood has helped to bring down the ecological side-effects of plastic and other harmful materials.
The wood is cheaper and according to scientists, it is also almost 5 times more efficient than glass. Bamboo and natural-fibre are also being considered to be good alternatives to plastic.