April 1, 2011 | Stuart

I’m often guilty of indulging in the late-night takeaway from my local fried chicken outlet. But such post-midnight cravings create millions of tonnes of waste feathers from the food industry each year. Lucky then that scientists have just found a use for them.

Adding a chemical to the feathers creates a cheap new type of plastic. It uses much less oil than conventional plastic, and it’s degradable – so it won’t be sitting around in landfill for hundreds of years.

This news story is supported by SITA Trust as part of the No More Waste project.