Plastic From Oranges

Most plastics are made from crude oil, a non-renewable resource found deep beneath the earth’s surface. To extract and turn crude oil into plastic, we need a lot of energy. Plastic has amazing qualities but it takes hundreds of years to break down, unlike natural materials such as wood or cotton. We are finding new ways of making plastic that can decompose, using abundant, renewable resources such as waste from food and farming. After being used, plastic made from plants could dissolve in water or be composted – ideal for packaging! For example, scientists

have discovered a method to make plastic from orange peel. The production of orange juice on a large scale creates a huge amount of fruit waste. In Brazil alone, the world's largest producer of orange juice, 8 million tonnes of orange peel could be recovered each year to make plastic. The technique involves breaking down the orange peel in high-powered microwaves and releasing molecules that can be turned into plastic. So we could produce biodegradable plastic and save tonnes of orange peel from going to waste.