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UK scientists develop material for fully biodegradable balloons

Scientists in London have developed a fully biodegradable material for balloons designed to break down in under a year, offering an eco-friendly alternative to traditional latex products that rely on toxic additives. "Before I started this PhD, I thought that balloons were biodegradable because it said so on all the packages," says Juliana Cumming, a PhD researcher at Imperial College London and co-founder of startup Bioloon. The company’s CEO, Charlotte Melia, says the discovery was “an 11th-hour eureka moment,” after hundreds of trials. She hopes to use the material in latex gloves, apparel, medical devices and condoms.

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Transcript
00:01Captions by GetTranscribed.com
00:30Let's go.
01:15It's a good day for the first time.
01:16The first time I started to make a decision.
01:16It's like the first time I was going to make a decision.
01:21It's a good idea.
01:29I was going to make a decision.
01:50So we start with a modified natural latex and a biodegradable polymer and we mix that
01:55in solution so we add a cross-thinking agent and that is left to evaporate over a couple of days
02:00we then initiate that cross-thinking in an oven and then we're left with this solid stretchy film
02:07So I did chemistry with biological and medicinal chemistry and then I specialised in polymer
02:12chemistry in my master's year yeah so the beginning of 2026 was the first time we inflated it yeah
02:20trees there are really really positive for the environment so the tree can last for 40 years or
02:24so whilst being milked the viscous it would have cost tens of millions of pounds to try
02:36and find an alternative to something that had been in place for over 110 years
02:49So
02:51and
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