Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGBTaking inspiration from the garden in a project
The idea for Tape2Grape came to me in my garden at home. During a grafting attempt on a hazel bush, the commercial grafting tape we were using grew inwards, resulting in some of it unfortunately remaining in the environment as plastic residue. It was at this point that I thought, “Surely there must be a more eco-friendly way.” The answer was to produce a biobased, biodegradable tape. During further discussions with my colleagues, we also came upon the idea of introducing additives to the grafting tape to really round off the project concept.
As part of the day-to-day project work, I collaborate with colleagues on formula development and the tape’s biological properties. We produce initial prototypes, analyze them, and expose them to environmental influences in order to test the stability of the materials.
It’s a great pleasure to be working on this project – and I find a huge source of motivation in the prospect of Tape2Grape becoming available on the market in a few years’ time.
Manuela Kaiser