Materials News PBPC’s membership comprises large and small businesses from across the US that produce, distribute, or sell products/packaging from renewable biomass inputs, as well as those organisations that pledged to build a more sustainable future. Currently, the organisation includes Cargill, Tate & Lyle, WestRock-Multi Packaging Solutions, Loliware, Visolis Biotechnology, Hemp Industries Association, and more. A thorny recipe for plastics from durian Meanwhile, in the Southeast Asian region, the durian fruit, infamous for its pungent smell and thorny skin, is being honed to provide a solution for biodegradable packaging material. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have utilised durian husks to develop biodegradable packaging materials. The durian contains pectin, a carbohydrate polymer that is present in cells of plants. Pectin derived from fruits has been used in materials such as adhesives and films.
NTU researchers used the pectin in durian to develop biodegradable material
The team of Singaporean researchers, led by Professor William Chen, Director of NTU’s food science and technology programme, extracted pectin from ground durian husks. The cellulose powder obtained from the process was used to create sheets of the material, which can purportedly degrade within a month if composted in soil. Colouring can be introduced into the cellulosic material. The team is further exploring the commercial potential of the durian-derived material with several food and beverage companies. Bioplastics from seeds Composting of certain food wastes ensures a sustainable end-of-life cycle. Even if organic wastes, especially of fruits and vegetables, are not upcycled into new materials they can still contribute to agricultural sustainability by making soil healthy. However, not all fruit pits, specifically the stone-hard pits of avocadoes or olives, can be easily composted. A start-up Mexican company Biofase has developed a patented process to produce a bioplastic from avocado pits, considered as agro-industrial wastes. The bioplastic is used to make disposable drinking straws and cutlery. Scott MungĂa, Founder of the Michoacan-based company has been using this process since 2012, for extracting a molecular compound from the seed to obtain a biopolymer that could be moulded into any shape. The resulting bioplastic degrades in 240 days in the environment, says the company.