Mushrooms and urine – the strange solutions to our plastic problem

Over 30% of plastics are single-use prompting imaginative alternatives

Single-use plastics
Plastic pollution is a growing issue that's impacting ecosystems globally
(Image credit: Idrees Mohammed /EPA-EFE / Shutterstock)

As the planet drowns in plastic waste, companies are devising bizarre alternatives, including stretchy seaweed, reverse vending machines and bamboo utensils, to save us all.

Plastic waste often does not decompose and it can last in landfill for many years but the "cure" for "disposable plastic crap" has arrived, said Wired, and it's becoming ever more imaginative.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.