Making
littering feel good
Jody Paterson, University of Victoria
To watch the video on YouTube:
One morning at the Shambhala Music Festival in the Kootenays a
few years ago, young scientist-to-be Paige Whitehead looked around at the vast
piles of discarded glow sticks everywhere and was struck by the thought that
there surely had to be a more environmentally friendly way to party.
The University of Victoria student didn’t know it then, but that
was the start of a very big idea. Whitehead has gone on to develop a prototype
“Light Wand” lit by bioluminescence, inside a seaweed-based casing that not
only dissolves harmlessly wherever it’s discarded, but actually improves the
soil.
With a crowdfunding campaign planned for the end of summer to
raise capital for patents and production, Whitehead anticipates her “green”
glow wands could be in the hands of festival-goers by the 2019 season.
Her fledgling company, Nyoka Design, is getting support from UVic’s Coast Capital Savings Innovation Centre, an on-campus business incubator.
Her fledgling company, Nyoka Design, is getting support from UVic’s Coast Capital Savings Innovation Centre, an on-campus business incubator.
“The idea just kept coming back to me,” says Whitehead, who graduates this summer with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and environmental studies.
“Anyone who goes to a music festival knows that you end up with
glow sticks everywhere on the ground, and that it’s a real problem. I started
sending emails to researchers and searching for what was out there. That led to
connections with research teams who’ve been working on developing
bioluminescence in the lab that can be made into a viable light source, among
other things.”
Whitehead initially planned to make her wand casings out of
biodegradable plastic. But she went looking for alternatives after discovering
that such plastic disintegrates only under certain circumstances, requiring
temperatures above 40°C.
Whitehead’s one-minute video on her glow wand project won over
both the judges and the audience at UVic’s recent Research Reels competition during
Ideafest in March, winning first prize and People’s Choice in the social media
category.
She’s still putting the final touches on her prototype but is
already dreaming big, envisioning a day when she can offer customized casings
impregnated with restorative microbes hand-picked to match the needs of a
particular festival location.
Whitehead says the retail price of wands is still being
determined. She and business partner Brianna LePiane are exploring the
idea of a refillable necklace as well. The wand itself has a durable and
reusable component. The necklace lasts “forever” and the short-term use
refillable part lasts for a few days—long enough to get a few glow bursts
before composting.
Want to follow the project on social media? Get glowing with
Whitehead’s memorable hashtag, #scientistswhoparty.