June 2022 | Vol. 9 Iss. 06
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FOX HILLS STUDENT TURNS FOOD WASTE INTO BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC By Liz Craker | l.craker@mycityjournals.com
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rystal Mirci, a fifth grade Fox Hills Elementary student, recently won the University of Utah Science and Engineering Fair for the state of Utah by making biodegradable plastics from food waste. She received the highest points possible and also received the TD Williamson Outstanding Young Scientist Award. The University of Utah Science & Engineering Fair is an annual science & engineering competition for students in grades 5-12. Students from the Canyons, Granite, Murray, Park City, Salt Lake, South Summit and Tooele School Districts as well as the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese and all private, home school and charter schools within these boundaries participate in the competition. Crystal’s father, Curtis Mirci, said that Crystal decided to make biodegradable plastics from food waste when she noticed in the news stories about animals dying from plastic exposure and the microplastics that are in people’s bodies. “She saw that students at school often threw away leftover food and plastic after lunch, and that gave her the idea as well,” he said. Crystal used five different types of fruit as well as vegetables, soy milk, regular milk and egg shells and a recipe from the internet to create the biodegradable plastics. She explained that she dehydrated the food, ground the dehydrated product into powder, then heated it and put it into molds to dry. She said that all of the food in the project was expired, and she changed the recipes to improve the results. Crystal was also able to extract protein from dairy products by mix-
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ing it with vinegar to make additional biodegradable plastics. “I was curious if it would actually work or not, but it worked great. She even got the soy-based biodegradable plastics to get as strong as the regular plastic,” her father added. He explained that she tested the strength of each produced item by exposing them to various temperatures as well as water. “The heated products became multiple times more durable,” he said. Due to COVID restrictions parents were not allowed at the March 9 event, but the students were able to present their own projects to the judges. Crystal’s awards were delivered to the school in April. She received a plaque for the TD Williamson award and a trophy for the points award. “I was very impressed with her and proud of her. With all the work she put into the unique concept, I thought she would win something,” her father added. “I would like to do more science fairs in the future,” Crystal said. She explained that she would like to test the durability of other bio- based plastics to build on this year’s project for an additional science fair project. “I was really happy. I didn’t think I would actually win against so many kids. I was really proud of my work,” she said. Crystal skipped kindergarten so she is a year ahead in school, and after taking math assessments for sixth grade, she was placed in ninth grade math for next year. She composes music, is bilingual in English and Japanese, and even has her Continued page 27
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Clean up day
Crystal Mirci receives the highest points award and the TD Williamson Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the University of Utah Science and Engineering Fair (Photo courtesy of Granite School District).
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