Prawn shells or biodegradable plastic material? BOTH!

“Prawn shells look like plastic,” is a thought that came to an Australian teen after dinner one night, after a long, hard day of researching and exploring different biodegradable alternatives to plastic—such as a banana peel solution and corn starch that didn’t pan out.

“That was when I realized that that dinner could have been my Eureka moment,” (Angelina Arora, news.com.au.)

The Adelaide inventor used the inspiration to manufacture a bioplastic alternative, made from prawn shells, that completely dissolves within about a month in a landfill.

Image source: www.optimistdaily.com

This material, which the 17-year-old reports is receiving very positive responses from manufacturers and interested companies, is flexible, durable, insoluble, and transparent, making it the perfect alternative for most common plastic packaging.

“I’m still finalizing the legal aspects like patenting for example; however, I am at the stage where I have produced a final prototype and would be ready to manufacture the plastic to distribute it commercially,” (Angelina Arora, news.com.au.)

Also, just like many other seafood waste products like oyster shells, prawn exoskeletons are rich in nitrogen – the most important ingredient in many plant fertilizers. This makes the material especially useful to farmers and agriculturalists, as it would degrade quite normally in their fields or compost pits, simultaneously providing their crops with the nitrogen needed to optimize plant nutrients and immunity.

The revolutionary innovation earned Angelina the BHP Science and Engineering Award, and also the honor to be named the Australian Geographic Society’s Young Conservationist of the Year.

A student of medicine herself, Aurora also hopes to adapt her bioplastic for use as packaging for medical supplies, which would be ideal, as it would help and industry that cannot allow itself to make compromises, reduce plastic waste.