Artificial leaf, renewable fabric, hydrogen truck, edible tray, plant bags, mushroom textiles: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of October 24th

#4 Make air travel greener by eating your meal tray?

In London, design firm PriestmanGoode has introduced a prototype edible meal tray to cut down on plastic waste from air travel. 

The packaging includes a tray made from coffee grounds; a salad box lid produced using banana leaf and algae; a dessert lid made from wafers; a spork made from coconut wood (meant to be reused, not eaten); and seaweed-based capsules for sauce and milk. The launch is part of PriestmanGoode’s “Get Onboard: Reduce. Reuse. Rethink” project. 

 “While there is currently no perfect solution, this design proposal aims to encourage suppliers and airlines to rethink the meal service in a more eco-friendly manner, particularly ahead of legislation to ban single-use plastic, which in some countries is proposed for as early as 2021,” Jo Rowan, Associate Strategy Director at PriestmanGoode, says in a press release. Commercial air travel generates over 5 million tons of waste annually. 

More on the story, here.