An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Waterloo has developed a method to convert food waste into biodegradable plastics using bacteria. The plastics are soft and flexible, making them suitable for applications like food wrap, drug delivery systems and tissue engineering.
Led by Dr. Tizazu Mekonnen, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Dr. Trevor Charles, a professor in the Department of Biology, the team produced polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a type of plastic that decomposes into harmless byproducts.
Despite this new technology’s exciting potential to address the world’s plastic pollution problem, the extraction process of PHAs from bacterial cells remains costly.
"Currently, the process of breaking open the bacterial cells and recovering the polymer is expensive,” said Mekonnen. “The team is working to develop an efficient and cost-effective extraction method that would make the overall production process more viable for large-scale commercialization."
The research team is now focused on optimizing and scaling up the extraction process to make large-scale production feasible. This advancement not only addresses the environmental impact of plastic waste but also supports a circular economy by transforming food waste into a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics.
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