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<div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/A.wav' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='New Zealand Students to Build Sporting Equipment Using Plants' data-article-id='5800'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='16271'>Students from New Zealand have developed sustainable materials made from the leaves of a tree local to New Zealand, the cabbage tree, and a plant whose seeds are often eaten, flax.</span> <span data-start-time='16271' data-end-time='27771'>Sustainable materials are products that are made that limit their harm to the environment and the amount of resources they take. </span> <span data-start-time='27771' data-end-time='32750'>They support a long-term ecological balance.</span> <span data-start-time='32750' data-end-time='47271'>The sustainable material the New Zealand students developed could soon be used to make high-performance outdoor sporting equipment like skis, kayaks, and skateboards. </span> <span data-start-time='47271' data-end-time='56625'>Their plan is to replace the traditional materials that are used like fiberglass and carbon fiber.</span> <span data-start-time='56625' data-end-time='60438'>Skateboards need to be strong. </span> <span data-start-time='60438' data-end-time='68813'>Ben Scales and William Murrell are two students at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury.</span> <span data-start-time='68813' data-end-time='76125'>They believe they can make them even stronger by using fiber from plants.</span> <span data-start-time='76125' data-end-time='89188'>After experimenting in their at-home workshops, they created new, natural composite material, or material made up of different items.</span> <span data-start-time='89188' data-end-time='94167'>Scales is 21 and studies product design. </span> <span data-start-time='94167' data-end-time='98750'>He said their first attempt is looking good.</span> <span data-start-time='98750' data-end-time='104896'>Scales said their first experimental product is a skateboard. </span> <span data-start-time='104896' data-end-time='120771'>It is made up of 25 percent fiber from a plant called harakeke and 75 percent recycled polylactic acid, which is plastic made from corn starch.</span> <span data-start-time='120771' data-end-time='135979'>He said the material is good to make a skateboard because it can take the force and shocks skateboards receive better than what skateboards are now made from: wood or carbon-fiber.</span> <span data-start-time='135979' data-end-time='144958'>The fiber is taken from the Harakeke plant, which is a native flax plant in New Zealand. </span> <span data-start-time='144958' data-end-time='158396'>The fiber is mixed with different resins, which is a product that comes from some trees that can be used to cover a surface or hold objects together. </span> <span data-start-time='158396' data-end-time='165125'>Leaves from the cabbage tree are also an important part in their material.</span> <span data-start-time='165125' data-end-time='173708'>The plan is to use these sustainable materials to make skis, snowboards, and kayaks. </span> <span data-start-time='173708' data-end-time='184250'>These outdoor sporting items are currently made from nonnatural materials like fiberglass and carbon fiber.</span> <span data-start-time='184250' data-end-time='192625'>The university students have found interest from possible business partners in other countries.</span> <span data-start-time='192625' data-end-time='208125'>Scales said some of the companies include businesses in Europe that make boats to skis and a few overseas startups that are looking to shape the personal transport industry.</span> <span data-start-time='208125' data-end-time='217583'>He said, “… they are looking to use sustainable materials that just are not offered in industries like that. </span> <span data-start-time='217583' data-end-time='226750'>So, they are wanting to use our material once we have gotten it ready, which will hopefully be soon.”</span> <span data-start-time='226750' data-end-time='235229'>If they are successful, the students could bring new life to New Zealand’s flax fiber industry.</span> <span data-start-time='235229' data-end-time='245458'>They could also bring back practices used by the native people, the Mori, before European colonization.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/A.jpeg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=17836 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/what_does_sustainable_mean.wav'>What does sustainable mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='able to be maintained at a certain rate or level'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/impervious_to_rain.wav'><span>impervious to rain</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/feeling_or_showing_envy_of_someone_or_their_achievements_and_advantages.wav'><span>feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/able_to_be_maintained_at_a_certain_rate_or_level.wav'><span>able to be maintained at a certain rate or level</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/wanting_to_do_or_have_something_very_much.wav'><span>wanting to do or have something very much</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=17837 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/which_plant_used_in_their_products_also_produces_a_popular_edible_seed.wav'>Which plant used in their products also produces a popular edible seed?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='flax'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/flax.wav'><span>flax</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/oak.wav'><span>oak</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/sunflower.wav'><span>sunflower</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/oat.wav'><span>oat</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=17838 data-hint-location='27771' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/they_support_a_longterm_ecological__blank_.wav'>They support a long-term ecological <span class='blank'>balance</span>.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='balance'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/downfall.wav'><span>downfall</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/sports.wav'><span>sports</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/balance.wav'><span>balance</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5217/money.wav'><span>money</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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