At Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), students have developed a bioplastic based on mango peel that could be used to produce bottles, cutlery, plates, and disposable cups.
IPN says that the students, part of the institution’s Center for Scientific and Technological Studies, set out to “rescue” organic waste and produce a flexible, biodegradable plastic that would last 6 months and could can be reused as fertilizer or compost.
The resulting bioplastic has properties similar to polyethylene terephthalate.
In addition to mango peel, the plastic uses carbohydrates, proteins, cellulose, corn starch, and glycerin to create a biopolymer. The glycerin acts as a plasticizer while the corn starch provides the flexibility by increasing the number of bonds between amylase and amylopectin.