Researchers from the University of California invented biodegradable flip flops created from algae

According to experts, the biodegradable flip flops created from algae are to mitigate the problem of the accumulation of plastics in the oceans.

The creation of this shoe was the fruit of a collaboration between the University of California, San Diego and the Algenesis Materials company, a materials science and technology company.

According to the creators, flip-flops offer a complete solution to the problem of plastics, at least for Polyurethanes.

The authors created Polyurethane foams from seaweed oil to meet the commercial specifications of the soles and the base for the feet.

The results of their study, to be published in the journal Bioresource Technology Reports, are available online and describe the team’s successful development of these sustainable, ready-to-eat and biodegradable materials.

Flip-flops are known to be the most popular and most consumed footwear in the world (in addition, they represent a worrying percentage of plastic waste that ends up in landfills, on our shores and in our oceans) and, as the San Diego Union Tribune comments, 52% of the innovation is manufactured using algae, but the goal is to reach 100%.

These seaweed-based flip flops have also been proven to fade without a trace within 16 weeks.

“We don’t need material that stays for 500 years in a product that will only be used for a year or two,” they explain in their study published in the scientific journal Bioresource Technology Reports.