Battling climate change and reducing plastic utilization by converting Food waste to Bioplastics.

This project was done by team TerraGreen for the Wipro climate change challenge.

Riya Sancheti, Omkar Waghmare, Ajinkya Kothekar, Sarang Gharge

Introduction:

According to the United Nations, an estimated 17 per cent of total global food production is wasted annually. It jumps to a staggering 40% in India. In 2020, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) positioned India at 94 among 107 nations, and that implies just 13 nations performed more poorly than India when it came to meeting their populace's food needs. As many people still sleep without eating enough every day, food waste remains a serious cause for concern.

Since, food waste when processed, either gets decomposed or is turned into biogas which only leads to the excess carbon emissions. Our main aim is to solve the enormous food waste issue while simultaneously minimizing the use of single-use plastics by replacing them with the more sustainable and durable option, bioplastics while incorporating our main element AI alongside integrating the concept of circular economy simultaneously as we believe “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Therefore, our solution of processing food waste also combats the issue of climate change.

Problem Statement:

● Food waste is a crisis for sustainable development since it not only increases food prices, emissions of greenhouse gases when it is not going to be decomposed, but also raises various other environmental concerns.

● Food waste has been majorly linked to food processing and manufacturing. But on our end, we have observed it happening at the local mess on a daily basis. Meanwhile, plastic trash is also a major source of contamination in the environment.

● By combining these two domains, we wish to execute our solution. Our core element is our AI bot which would segregate the food waste into different categories based on the nutrient values.

● In this way, the life cycle of products is extended, waste is used and a more efficient and sustainable production model is established over time. This will in turn contribute to the existing climate concerns.

Solution:

We wish to execute the solution for the previously mentioned issues by exploring the capability of food waste being utilized as a bioplastic material. Sludge waste, cassava peel, banana peel, pineapple peel, durian seed, jackfruit seed, avocado seed, and chicken feather are some of the food wastes obtained by the food processing sector. The development of bioplastics from food waste has a dual benefit solving the problem of food and plastic wastage while simultaneously boosting environmental sustainability.

In synthetic biology, researchers have been developing microbes that break down food waste and microscopic organisms that produce bioplastic. In this venture, in anticipation of transforming food waste into bioplastics, we integrated engineered acid tolerant E. coli which endures the acidic food fermentation process in order to produce bioplastics. Additionally, we assembled computational models and equipment to expand PLA creation from food waste.

Additionally, as mentioned we would like to introduce an AI bot which would fetch real time data from our primary source of raw material and provide us with a key guide which conveys what type of bioplastic will most efficiently be manufactured from that particular source.

Fig 1: Flowchart explaining the process involved.

The plausibility of PHA creation using food waste as a substrate has been seriously assessed, including data connected with the greatest PHA collection limit, capacity yield, and creation rate. Saccharides, along with n alkanes, n alkanoic acids, n-alcohols, gases and corrosives are viewed as key carbon hotspots for biosynthesis of PHA. The greater part of the carbon applied in business PHA creation is moderately costly, like pure carbs, alkanes, and unsaturated fats.

Pure supplements are unreasonably expensive, bringing about the difficulty of most of the created biotechnological components. Savvy acknowledgment of the biotechnological processes is subject to the presence of reasonable supplements that are put to use as wellsprings of carbon, nitrogen, or potentially phosphate for microorganisms.

Fig 2: Agar plates of E.coli bacteria

Learnings from customer research:

Our survey resulted in the understanding of customer purchases. We concluded that a huge chunk of customers now purchase products while giving priority to the quality of the product and the research behind it, then its price, reviews from friends and family. Their deciding factors also include environmental-friendly products, durability, usability etc.

Fig 3: Customer research

Our Website:

Our website is designed to network and connect with different organisations to gather and minimise the food waste and use it in our solution to generate sustainable bioplastics. Our landing page allows the user to donate food waste by filling up a basic form as per their convenience and learn more about us.

https://terragreenwcc.wixsite.com/terragreen

Fig 4: Website Landing Page

Fig 5: Website donation form

Our AI bot is designed to help accelerate the process of segregation of food waste into percentages of starch and cellulose based on the food items on the menu.

Designed end product:

Our wide range of products include Bioplastic sheets of varying thicknesses, the thinnest ones to be used for saplings, and trash bags. While the thicker sheets can be utilised for the production of biodegradable cutlery, phone cases, pen cases packaging .

Fig 6: Bioplastic end product

Business Model:

Bioplastics are on the ascent and will continue to assume control over a greater amount of the plastics market every year. In 2015, as per Grand View Research, bioplastics had under a 2 percent market share in the plastics area. They estimate that by 2020 and 2030, individually, bioplastics will hold a 5 percent and a 40 percent piece of the pie of the worldwide plastics market, developing to a $324 billion industry. B2B is our engaged plan of action where our objective clients are bioplastic item enterprises, single use items and bundling ventures.

Our target clients range from 18 yrs or more. These are the youthful, excited young people of our country who have turned towards sustainability and alternative answers for pressing existential issues. Their desires line up with our own which is to help create a superior world for the people in the future.

Fig 7: Bioplastic market share

The decision to investigate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for bioplastic consumer products derived from the recent urgency to identify sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. Although substantial research has been made on the topic of bioplastics, consumers' perspective has often been under-studied. We conclude that most of the Indian consumers are willing to pay more for a bioplastic packaging and for disposable cups, spoons made of bioplastics than for the same products made of original plastic.

Fig 8: Production capacities of bioplastic

Conclusion:

Bioplastic is a characteristic polymeric material that has been grown broadly over the last two decades because of its great biocompatibility, biodegradability, and material properties. Thus, bioplastic creation has become one of the most dynamic research areas as of late. Bioplastic can be applied in bundling enterprises, spray materials, appliance materials, electronic items, horticultural items, automation items, substance media, and solvents.

In the development of bioplastics, the interlinkage of biotechnology processes is a key procedure pointed toward boosting the utilization of food waste and expanding the likely income of the whole bioprocessing chain. Considering that mass generation of food waste is unavoidable, the natural weights emerging from garbage removal (e.g., water pollution and GHG outflows) ought to be alleviated. Hence, our research exhibited the capability of food waste as a natural substance for bioplastic creation to resolve significant ecological issues. Subsequently, physical, thermal-compound, and biological approaches expected for preparation of bioplastic raw components from food waste are accounted for. Besides, creation of PHA in light of pure/blended culture and aging advancements was emphasized. Alterations of various food waste components (e.g., cellulose, starch, chitin, and caprolactone) for PHA-derived items were additionally thought of.