Libby Challoner

I have spent my final year developing a sustainable biodegradable and compostable biopolymer, made from the easily accessible raw material that I have access to here in Falmouth: seaweed (more specifically agarophytes), ensuring the sustainability of my materials by extracting the Agarose, used as the main component of my material myself. The versatility of the material was enhanced by the introduction of sustainable dyes that I made using items that I could find at home, i.e. beetroot and spinach. I was also able to experiment with alternative analogue photography techniques to print onto the polymer. With this material, I was then able to look at designing monoclonal antibody tests, with the idea of reducing the volume of single-use plastic waste produced in medical tests and devices.