A biodegradable plastic, capable of dissolving in water and made from plant waste, this is the latest innovation from young South African scientist Tshepo Mangoele.

It is after two years of research that this formidable innovation, designed to dissolve in water in less than 72 hours, was born.

This solution could ultimately contribute to considerably reducing the amount of plastic waste that pollutes our environment, more than half of which ends up in the oceans each year.

So how do you make water soluble plastic? The example of Tshepo Mangoele should be studied closely!

Soluble plastic to protect the environment, a first in Africa

Tshepo Mangoele , an African chemical engineer scientist of South African origin, has just developed Dissolv Bioplastic, a plastic capable of dissolving in water in less than 72 hours.

Through this innovation, Tshepo Mangoele wants to make available to his country, to Africa, but also to the world, an innovative solution in the fight for the protection of the environment which is weakening day by day.

It is therefore with the aim of finding concrete solutions to this type of problem that a young South African has spent two years of his life conducting experiments and researching biomass waste that would make it possible to manufacture a number of of products.

To develop his invention, the young South African researcher used the remains of plant material, especially plant material for which degradation is faster.

So, in the manufacturing process, it was enough for him to replace petroleum (generally used to make conventional synthetic plastics) with components derived from these plants, and he was able to obtain a plastic that degrades without an ounce of impact. negative on the environment.

To see the plastic dissolve completely, it takes between 36 and 72 hours, an aspect of Tshepo Mangoele’s invention that commands respect, when we know that standard biodegradable plastics take, according to the latest estimates, between 3 and 6 months to degrade completely.

Ecological entrepreneurship for a wide spectrum of perspectives

Passionate about science and a fervent supporter of environmental protection, the young Tshepo Mangoele is what one could call an ecological entrepreneur, he who through his structure Eco Invader Solutions has always sought to create scientific solutions. and innovative technologies that would reduce the effects of climate change in the world.

It was during his studies at the University of the Witwatersrand that the young Mangoele discovered his passion for scientific, entrepreneurial and ecological things, areas in which he decided to dedicate his career.

It was then in 2016 that he co-founded a company manufacturing technological and ecological products used to make construction safer.

After having been a shareholder in an energy production company in 2017, Tshepo also embarked on writing, and became a writer, another passion that he still continues to exercise to this day.

Today, he is at the head of Eco Invader Solutions, the company he created and through which he developed Dissolv Bioplastic, the first water-soluble plastic made in Africa.

An innovation which already in the pilot prototype phase has enabled it to win numerous prizes, in particular that of the best emerging with Bizcr8, that of the OPEN IX challenge of the innovation center, not to mention the most recent, that of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.

The development of Disslov Bioplastic is nearing completion at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, and according to researcher Tshepo Mangoele, his company is also working to expand its range of innovations.

To do this, he intends to turn to industrial companies that use conventional plastic in order to offer them granules of bioplastics.