A 17-year-old girl surprises the world with an innovative sustainable invention: a biodegradable plastic made with fish scales, a waste that usually ends up in the trash.
This invention not only offers an alternative to petroleum-derived plastics, but also helps reduce environmental pollution.
From fish scales to biodegradable plastic: the ingenious invention of a young girl
The novelty was developed by the young American Jacqueline Prawira, who managed to create several products from the waste produced by the sale of fish.
Her goal is to find more environmentally friendly solutions on a planet where only humans generate polluting waste.
The biodegradable plastic made from fish scales developed by Prawira is presented as thin and transparent films.
These are intended for single-use applications, such as supermarket bags, packaging, or disposable cutlery.
In an interview for CBS, the young girl showed the products created with fish scales: bags, wrappers, and utensils.
All these items can replace conventional petroleum-derived plastics in daily use.
The new material not only comes from reused waste, but also avoids polluting nature.
“If they are composted, they degrade on their own naturally without much external help, if any is needed,” says Prawira.
Heavy metal absorption: the other key role of fish scales discovered by Prawira
In addition to biodegradable plastic, the researcher also created a compost based on these fish by-products.
Still in high school, the young girl discovered that the collagen and calcium salts present in the scales act as a magnet for heavy metal pollution.
These are captured to be recycled later.
Thus, she invented Cyclo.Cloud, a solution that uses fish waste to adsorb up to 82% of heavy metals present in contaminated wastewater.
The goal of this development is to prevent food and environmental contamination.
Prawira’s promising career
Prawira managed to develop this latest project within the framework of the Rise program, which “supports promising young people and provides them with opportunities to collaborate and contribute to the welfare of others”.
For this latest invention, in 2021 Prawira published her first research paper and has already received awards from prestigious entities such as Broadcom MASTERS, ISEF, National JSHS, and the EPA.
Currently, Prawira is studying at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
From there, she “seeks to build a sustainable world through the development of a circular economy and the creative recycling of waste”.
The national bioplastic project of CONICET
The scientific community constantly finds new alternatives to conventional plastic.
Among the millions of waste people produce each year, researchers seek innovative solutions.
In this context, a recent CONICET project follows this path with a national imprint.
The study develops “polymers obtained from natural sources, which are renewable and biodegradable“, detailed the entity.
These natural polymers are found in fruits, plant cell walls, and some animal structures.
The aim is for these to “serve the same function as plastics that we find today both in food packaging and in the agricultural food production industry”.
These are organic compounds of high molecular weight that offer properties similar to conventional plastics, but without negative environmental impact.
These advances demonstrate that organic waste can be transformed into useful and sustainable materials, reducing dependence on oil and environmental pollution.
