Horticultural Waste used to make Environment Friendly Plastic

The environment is getting polluted day by day. Sea is becoming a dumping ground for plastic bottles, plastic bags and other such hazardous material which is creating a problem for the sea animals and the sea greenery.  

Though plastic is used for mulching and other purposes in agriculture but no one has ever thought that horticulture waste could be converted into Plastic which is environment-friendly.  Can you imagine that fruits and vegetable wastes can also be converted into bio-based plastic which is recyclable?  

During the presentation of the new biomaterial, the coordinator of The Circular Lab, Zacarías Tornado, praised the new sustainable plastic as "the stepping stone for new developments based on the circular design. It is also already an example of what packaging will be like in the future," as plastic is replaced. 

Researchers at the circular economy innovation center of Ecoembes, The Circular Lab, have developed a new plastic that is biobased, compostable, recyclable and biodegradable at sea. It is made from fruit and vegetable waste and its use should be authorized within the next five years. 

Ecoembes innovation specialist Jorge García has explained the differences between biobased bioplastic (that which comes from biomass) and those that are biodegradable (which come from oil). García said that the project's main goal was to obtain a biobased and compostable packaging. 

Now that the product has been developed in the laboratory phase, it is time for the industry's approval and certifications of compliance to be granted. The plastic products resulting from this development could hit the market in about five years.