The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has recently won four medals-two gold, one silver and one bronze-at the 60th international trade fair "Ideas, Inventions, New Products (IENA)" held in Nuremberg, Germany. One of the gold medals was for the production of bio-degradable plastics from activated sludge. Prof. Chua Hong of the department of civil and structural engineering and his colleagues have been investigating the possibility of using industrial waste as carbon source for economical production of polyhydrox-yalkanoates (PHAs). Chemical PHAs that can be completely degraded to water and carbon dioxide do make an ideal green alternative to substitute plastics derived from petroleum. However, large-scale commercialisation of PHAs to replace plastics is hindered by the relatively high cost of production. How to overcome this hurdle was the concern of Prof Chua and his team.
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