印尼海藻种植者变废为宝，将农业副产物转化为生物塑料
Along the sun‑soaked shores of Nusa Lembongan, a small island east of Bali, women have harvested seaweed for generations, mainly to supply the global agar‑agar market. Yet for years they faced a painful contradiction: while demand for their raw, dried seaweed fluctuated wildly, a growing mountain of unsellable, lower‑grade seaweed piled up on the beaches, polluting the very waters that sustained their livelihood.
In 2019, a group of 60 women formed the Sari Laut cooperative, determined to turn that waste into a steady income stream. They invested in a small grinding machine that pulverises the discarded seaweed and, with a simple heating process, blends it with natural cassava starch to create bioplastic pellets. These pellets can then be moulded into compostable food containers, replacing petroleum‑based plastic packaging in local markets.
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