Traceless: Biodegradable Tree-supporting Products
- Challenge:A Healthy Environment for All Challenge
- Co-Funders:European Union
- Phase:Prize
- Team Lead:Dr Yuanyuan Chen, Technological University of the Shannon
- Team Co-Lead:Prof. Maurice Collins, Unviersity of Limerick
- Societal Impact Champion:Maurice Ryan, Green Belt Ltd
Funded by
European Union & Government of Ireland
Planting trees is widely seen as environmentally beneficial, and the EU forest strategy for 2030 outlines a roadmap for planting three billion additional trees. However, millions of plastic products are used every year to support tree growth, such as tree tubes to protect young trees from deer, rabbits, and voles; plastic cable ties; plastic clips; etc., resulting in plastic pollution in forestry.
Another issue related to forestry is the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides, which have been found to be lost to water systems by wind drift or surface runoff during or shortly after application, contaminating water, soils, and the air.
This project proposes to develop fully biodegradable tree-supporting products that can be fully decomposed under ambient conditions into carbon dioxide and water by microorganisms within 2–8 years, depending on the application, and release fertilizers and pesticides over a long period of time through hydrolysis degradation of the tree-supporting products.