## 3 Sustainability
### Alternative Solutions--What Can Be Done?
#### 3.3.2 Use and Supply of Foodstuff Gelatine  
Alternative materials for survivability assessment should be sought to reduce environmental impact, as demonstrated in Tables 2-4. One such solution is the viability of commercial gelatine used in food to be used with suitable alterations to the material's composition. Commercial grade gelatine is a by-product of the meat processing industry, and the quality of the gelatine produced relies on the protein extraction method employed during manufacture [55,56]. The manufacturing of gelatine has already improved, with the ability to extract the required high-quality by-products for gelatine, high-purity fats to generate biofuels, which further reduce CO2 emissions and minerals for fertilisation applications and anti-corrosive treatments for steels [55]. This move towards a more sustainable manufacturing method, paired with the ability to clean and recycle the wastewater generated during production before returning the water to nature, is extremely advantageous. In addition, any excess proteins or other organic materials are broken down using bacteria to generate biogas, which helps power resources requiring heat and electricity [55]. This is of massive importance when it has been reported that over 300,000 metric tonnes of gelatine are produced worldwide annually for sectors such as pharmaceutical/medical/cosmetic, food/confectionery, and technical industries [57]. The literature suggests that although a high volume of gelatine is used during survivability assessment, the environmental impacts are minimised through the manufacturing phase. However, this does not consider the supply chain or the disposal of used material. The more '1 shot' items are required during experimentation, the higher the supply chain impact on the environment, with more weight added to transportation methods or increased frequency of delivery, increasing the supplier's carbon output. It has been reported that the UK domestic freight industry generated 33.7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2004, with 92% of these emissions caused by road transport [58]. As road transportation is the most common, the following text will focus on road haulage impact. In recent years, improvements to the fuel efficiency of road haulage vehicles have increased the usage rates and durations for which they are used. This maturation in technology has not kept pace with the ability to reduce emissions, which continues to have negative impacts on the environment [59]. As previously mentioned, the target remains to be Net Zero by 2050 [36], and when taking this timeframe into consideration, companies will be required to explore numerous avenues to meet the government's ambition [59,60]. Once such technology at the forefront of innovation is electrification [61]. This brings the benefit of increased reliability and low operating and maintenance costs [62]; further, they are able to access inner-city regions that have been designated as 'ultra-low emission/clean air zone' status [63]. However, this solution also has drawbacks. Among them are the limited range of electric vehicles, the currently limited infrastructure to charge a vehicle, and the demand that will be placed on the electric grid [62] as the road haulage industry moves towards adopting this technology. Increased demand on the electricity grid means that more electricity is generated, which increases the use of energy sources such as coal, oil, nuclear power, and natural gas, which generate waste products that are harmful to the environment [64]. More eco-friendly alternatives, such as wind, solar, tidal, and biogas, are being explored as replacements for the conventional methods of production [65] but will require significant investment to meet the needs of the road haulage industry.