- This is a completely edible plastic
with drinking water inside that we just made at home
and could be a huge step towards a future
with less plastic waste.
In today's video, which is sponsored by KiwiCo
we're not only gonna go through how we made them,
but also attempt making edible ketchup packages,
coffee cup pods and more.
So we all know that single use plastics are a problem,
given how much ends up in landfills and the oceans.
And even most of our recyclable plastic
doesn't actually end up being recycled.
And while there's a ton of research,
going into viable alternatives
that are either biodegradable or edible,
we thought, why not try this ourselves?
So that's what we're gonna do today.
And you can easily join along with us.
All you'll really need is water,
which we have in three different bowls here.
And then we have something called sodium alginate,
is actually a by-product of seaweed.
I have experimented a little bit with this the other night,
it's gonna be interesting.
The other ingredient is calcium lactate.
- And both of these substances are edible.
- Yes, they are both food grade
and we want one gram of sodium alginate
that's gonna get mixed into one cup of the drinking water.
All right, Greg, I'm gonna give you the honors
of dumping it in.
- Love to dump.
- We are actually gonna use a hand blender.
(blender whirs)
You just gotta keep going till it's fully dissolved.
- Okay, come on powder, go.
(blender whirs)
- It's like the blender is getting hot.
(blender whirs)
Okay, so we blended, the blender is gonna explode.
There are a lot of bubbles now,
probably around 10, 15 minutes, if not a little longer
for all those bubbles to go away.
I'm always terrified when this blender is plugged in,
'cause it feels so risky.
Like, if it's just sitting on the counter plugged in,
all it takes is this button to be pushed
to like chop your finger off.
- Mitch is always sort of-
- Always unplug your blender.
- Trying to figure out like, how he could die,
like in many different possibilities.
I do not have that part of my brain
but I've almost died many times in my life.
- Does anyone else have that brain?
Where you're just like, at every given moment,
how will this situation killed me?
That's why I don't leave the house.
- Yeah, I think it's called anxiety.
(both laughing)
- I think it's called severe anxiety.
While we're waiting, we're gonna do our second solution.
We have four cups of water in this bigger bowl here
and we're gonna use five grams of calcium lactate in here.
- Warp it in there baby.
- [Both] Oh.
- Same thing, this substance isn't as tough to dissolve.
I'm gonna stick it in our bowl.
- Ooh.
(blender whirs)
(Greg screams)
(blender whirs)
- Our sodium alginate solution has no more bubbles.
So basically at this point we're going to scoop it up
and I'm using a little rounded spoon here,
so that we can keep sort of an orb shape
and we're going to be dropping it in
to our calcium lactate solution.
Gently drop it.
And literally-
- It's gone.
- It will look like it disappeared.
You can't see it.
After a little bit, it's gonna be in there.
We'll start to see cloudiness
but it's actually really hard to see depending on your bowl.
Well, I can see it.
- Okay, my boyfriend has x-ray vision.
- So you just for around three minutes want it to have this,
sort of calcium lactate bath
to make sure that that reaction is happening.
You can see that.
- [Greg] Oh, I think I can.
It kinda looks like a jelly fish.
- [Mitch] Yeah.
So what's going on in this here bowl?
Well, the sodium alginate,
is made of long strands of carbohydrate units.
And when they come in contact with the calcium bath,
a reaction happens.
The bonds re-arrange so that the alginate binds
to the calcium forming calcium alginate.
And this cross-linking creates a flexible,
soft solid or gelatinous substance.
The longer it soaks, the more calcium ions are able to move
into the mesh of the gel,
making more cross-links and a firmer gel.
- Oh my God.
- Can you see that?
- Can I hold it?
- Yeah, yeah, put your hand out just like.
- Oh my God.
- [Mitch] There you go.
- [Greg] I love tubey.
- [Mitch] That's so cool, okay.
So this is encapsulated water.
If you want, you could squirt the water out into your mouth
or you can actually eat the whole thing.
It depends on obviously, if you like the taste of it or not.
It should have a fairly neutral,
if not a little bit sweet taste.
- I love this.
- Wanna try it?
- Yes, I don't wanna eat, it's so cute.
- No, we can make another one, eat it.
Just eat it, just put the whole thing in your mouth.
- Mm.
- Oh, you actually didn't eat the outside, okay-
- This is the outside of the,
this is the plastic water bottle.
- Okay, but you can eat that.
- So I can eat this.
(Greg hums)
- I don't know why that was so off-putting to me.
- Oh, it does taste good.
I freaking love this.
Can we do with everything?
- We're gonna do with everything,
but first I wanna try a bigger one.
(gentle music)
Again, invisible.
- Oh, I can see it, it's big.
- Big mama.
- [Greg] Oh, she's a biggie.
- So we've just put her in the bath.
- Oh my goodness.
- It's a biggie.
- She's a thick daddy.
Oh, that whole thing is running in your mouth?
Did you just barf?
- No, it was exploding in my mouth and the water came out.
(classical music)
- Now let's experiment, let's experiment.
- Okay, we're gonna.
It's time to try some ketchup.
(blender whirs)
Okay, uh.
Uh, it just smells like ketchup.
- We got a little bit of pommes frite, as the French say.
If we do this, like, we are gonna start a business.
We are gonna change the freaking world.
- Literally.
- I burst through the ceiling.
- Like that?
- Do you think that-
- Just try it, it doesn't hurt.
I'm gonna just like let it go, like, doop.
(Mitch laughs)
- Ew, this is wrong.
- It literally looks like a piece of turd.
Ew.
- It's a little, it looks like a heart,
like a little tiny like mouse heart.
- [Mitch] That does look like a heart.
But it does feel pretty solid, right?
- Yeah, yeah.
- And can you put it between hands?
Okay, so it's holding together,
it's not melting in your hand.
- Ew, this is so weird.
- So like, let's, let's put it here and then dip a fry.
- Okay.
- Just pretend it came as a package.
- So like a little rat heart.
- Cheers.
Open it up.
- [Both] Ooh.
- Okay, actually-
- The French are gonna love this.
- A decent alternative to having packages.
(gentle music)
All right, we've got our little latte prepared here.
- Almond milk latte, I'm very excited about this.
- Now obviously, our creations would not work
for a lot of products,
as a wet and potentially breakable plastic is not ideal.
But while this is just a fun at-home experiment,
there are actually real solutions being created
for a multitude of industries, as we speak.
- [Mitch] A handful of companies are already making,
not only compostable food packaging
but actual packaging for non-food objects.
Waterproofing and grease-proofing for takeout boxes.
Six pack holders that are safe for Marine consumption.
And even edible utensils made out of potatoes.
One of the main drawbacks
that still remains for biodegradable plastics,
as opposed to edible plastics,
is that while they do break down faster
than traditional plastic, they can still take a long time.
And a landfill isn't always conducive to that process
to begin with.
But even with that drawback,
while plastics are made from fossil fuels,
bio-plastics are not.
Of course, there's some hopeful research
in breaking down plastics faster with the use of bacteria
or waxworms that are able to break down polyethylene
but the scalability for this is questionable.
Regardless, there is a big push and movement,
towards more sustainable
and environmentally friendly packaging.
And I for one, feel hopeful.
Is that okay?
- Yeah.
So I am the coffee drinker.
This would be my dream just to poppity, pop, pop, pop
on the go.
Ladies and gentlemen,
if you wanna purchase your coffee bubbles,
just call one, one, one, one, one, one coffee bubble.
(Greg gasps)
Oh my gosh, it's a coffee bubble.
(Mitch chuckles)
Oh my gosh, I love it.
- That's crazy.
- Oh my gosh, I love it.
It's my favorite thing in the world.
It's like a little liver.
- And the bubbles are in it.
(classical music)
- Mm.
- Is it good?
- Oh my gosh, okay, so it's literally a bubble of coffee.
It wasn't flavored with sugar,
so it really tastes like a boom of coffee in your mouth,
like a coffee tree.
But I am like,
it would be great with sugar as a snacky, snacky.
- Should we mix some sugar in there and try again?
(classical music)
(Mitch chuckles)
- Yes, daddy.
- [Mitch] Wow, can you see it from there?
- [Greg] A cappuccino ball.
- That's so cool.
(classical music continues)
- Mm.
- Is it good?
- It's so weird, it's like you're eating coffee.
It's a coffee gusher, I love it.
This morning, one of the weirdest days I've had in my life?
(Mitch laughs)
(classical music continues)
- [Both] Mm.
- I put a lot of sugar in.
- That was cool, honestly, million dollar idea.
- Like fun, yeah, I can definitely see a coffee chain,
making something like this as a novelty.
- This could be your gimmick where people line up
to get the coffee balls.
Like people in Toronto love to line up for a gimmick,
so there you go.
This very simple chemical reaction to me,
makes a lot of sense of how we could, you know,
decrease single use plastics.
Someone will figure this out.
This is a great start.
If we could do this at home,
you can only imagine the potential for this in the future.
You should definitely try doing this with your kids
or even with your friends.
I mean, adult fun to use some alcohol.
- If you're looking for more at home things
to keep you occupied 'cause you're trapped indoors,
like all of us are,
our sponsor today is a perfect opportunity
for you to do just that.
We are obsessed with today's sponsor KiwiCo,
which is designed to expose kids to concepts in science,
technology, engineering, art, and math.
- [Mitch] You can use kiwico.com/asap
for your first month free.
It's an amazing resource and gift
for anyone wanting to help kids learn at home.
Each box comes with all the supplies needed
for that month's project,
so no need to ever run to the store.
There's different crates for different ages.
And by signing up today using kiwico.com/asap,
you help our show and get a first month free.
- It makes our month when we get these hands on projects
in the mail and you can too.
This is an especially amazing holiday gift idea.
I signed up the six to 11 year old crates for my cousins
and the two to four year old crates for my nephew.
And they freak out, every time they get them in the mail.
They love updating me with photos of what they've made
and most importantly, what they've learned.
- Thanks again to KiwiCo for sponsoring today's video.
We love a sponsor that helps to inspire kids
to become creative problem solvers and critical thinkers.
- Make sure you're subscribed
and we'll see you next time for a new science video.
- See ya.