A team at Binghamton University has pioneered a method to turn food waste into biodegradable plastic, potentially revolutionizing waste management and reducing plastic pollution.
Amid rising concerns over food waste and plastic pollution, researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York, have made a groundbreaking advancement: converting food waste into biodegradable plastic. This innovative process has the potential to significantly address two pressing environmental challenges.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30% to 40% of the nation’s food supply ends up being wasted, contributing to methane and carbon dioxide emissions from landfills.
Simultaneously, plastic waste continues to accumulate globally, raising health concerns about microplastics in our ecosystems.
Imagine transforming a portion of this food waste into biodegradable plastic — an eco-friendly solution that could mitigate waste and reduce plastic pollution. The pioneering research team, led by doctoral candidate Tianzheng Liu along with Sha Jin, a professor of biomedical engineering, and Kaiming Ye, a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of biomedical engineering, has published their fundamental findings in the journal Bioresource Technology.
“Bioresource Technology is a high-quality journal, so being published quickly speaks to the importance of this research,” Jin said in a news release. “The reviewers commented that ‘the manuscript demonstrates significant scientific merit, novelty and environmental relevance.’”
This research builds on Jin’s initial interest sparked by a 2022 grant from New York State to explore food waste utilization.
“We can utilize food waste as a resource to convert into so many industrial products, and biodegradable polymer is just one of them,” she added.
The team aims not only to valorize food waste but also to lower the manufacturing cost of eco-friendly polymers.
The current production of biodegradable plastics is costly due to the need for refined sugar substrates and pure cultures of microorganisms. The Binghamton team addressed this by feeding Cupriavidus necator bacteria with lactic acid fermented from food waste, combined with ammonium sulfate.
These bacteria synthesize polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) plastic, which can be harvested and molded into various biodegradable products. Notably, approximately 90% of the PHA produced by the bacteria can be retrieved.
Liu, whose background is in stem cell research, found transitioning to this project challenging but rewarding.
“The bioconversion of food waste into organic acids was relatively easy. Cultivation of the plastic-producing bacteria was hard, because at the beginning I didn’t have experience with bacteria fermentation for producing biopolymer,” he said in the news release.
However, perseverance paid off as the team fine-tuned the process.
Integral to their success was the support from Sodexo and Binghamton University Dining Services, which supplied the necessary food waste. Jin points out that SUNY’s policy against landfilling food waste and the University’s sustainable practices helped shape their initiative.
The research also addressed practical questions for scaling up, such as the feasibility of storing food waste for a week without affecting the bioconversion process and the flexibility needed for different types of food waste.
“We discovered that the process is very robust, as long as we have different types of food mixed in at the same ratio,” Jin added.
In an innovative twist, the team is developing the solid residue left from fermentation into organic fertilizer, proposing a more sustainable alternative to conventional chemical fertilizers.
Looking forward, Jin aims to scale up the process, seeking further grant funding or industrial partnerships to expand biodegradable plastic production.
This breakthrough could pave the way for sustainable waste management practices and reduce the environmental impact of both food waste and plastic.
Source: Binghamton University