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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Costing the Earth

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Fresh ideas from the sharpest minds working toward a cleaner, greener planet

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Costing the Earth: The End of Plastic

05/11/2013

The End of Plastic

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, The End of Plastic

Tom Heap meets a man determined to rid the world of plastic.

Tom Heap meets a man determined to rid the world of plastic and replace it with a biodegradable fungus.

Tom Heap meets a man on a mission: Eben Bayer is determined to eradicate plastic and polystyrene from the packaging industry and replace it with a bio-degradable fungus.

And he thinks he's cracked it. By combining fungus with agricultural waste to create packaging that's cheap, durable and biodegradable, Bayer hopes to disrupt an environmentally destructive industry valued globally at around £13 billion. He's looking at ways to roll his product out across the USA and beyond.

Plus scientists are also looking at biodegradable plastics made from potatoes, and even shrimps and silk in what could be heralded as a real game-changer

In this edition of Costing The Earth, Tom Heap asks if it's too early to be reading the last rites to plastic.

Presenter: Tom Heap
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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