In Turkey, researcher Duygu Yilmaz has founded a startup to produce biodegradable plastic from discarded olive pits.
Dubbed Bioolive, the company has its roots in Yilmaz’s concern over her father’s habit of eating olive pits to soothe his stomach. She looked at olive pits just to make sure they wouldn’t be harmful, only to notice that they had structural similarities to plastic. She went on to found Biolive, which collects pits from olive oil makers and produces bioplastic.
Biolive’s plastic biodegrades in just a year, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, Yilmaz tells Good News Network. She adds that she wants to expand production to one day replace traditional plastics completely.