Introduction

Plastic-based materials are commonly used since the 20th century emerged. Usual tools and

objects made in wood and metal have been changed into plastic-based due to the convenience of

the resources. Unlike in metal and wood-based products, plastics create a more flexible shaping

method which contributes to the convenience it brings. Plastic also make good insulator of heat

which wards the high conductivity of metal.

Plastic materials have the most number of production in a year. Annually, more than 300

million tons of produced plastic, in which 50% of it are single-use plastics. It has become very

alarming because plastics are made faster than destroyed. Of the 8.3 B metric tons of produced

plastic, 6.3 B of it end up as plastic waste, it being the one-time use of plastic materials. The single-

usage of plastic water bottles and plastic bags contribute to the vast majority of wasted plastic.

The continual flow of modernity calls for innovation and ease. Various inventions are

presented by different organizations and individuals. Resolution are continuously provided for the

number of problems and issues that arise. Yet, it puts a large portion of resources and environment

at risk. The call for adaptation risks the non-renewable sources and other form of sources used for

supplies. Different alternatives, renewable resources, and technological alterations come to surface

as researchers and scientists continue to create and search for various solutions to different global

problems.

The researchers of this study aim to produce a biodegradable plastic made mainly from

agar starch and fish scales to cope with the rising effects of plastic pollution.
Statement of the problem

This study ought to provide a sustainable biodegradable plastic primarily made up from

agar starch and fish scales. The following questions are to be answered:

1. Is the biodegradable plastic efficient in terms of the following:

a. Durability

b. Sustainability

c. Availability

d. Cost

2. How many kilos can this bioplastic support?

Significance of the Study

The rationale of this study is to save in the production cost and be helpful to the

environment. The study aims to create a product that is easy to decompose and is safer than the

regular plastic cups. Hence, this will benefit everyone for it is for the betterment of our

environment. The study could also be of importance to the following:

Environmentalists. The study to be conducted will be a help to the environmentalists for they can

be more aware of this possible solution to the ongoing problem of pollution, more specifically the

plastic wastes. As the main beneficiaries of the study, this would help them to advocate the

importance of decomposition as well as the uses of alternative resources.

Plastic Manufacturers. The study will help the manufacturers to lessen the dependency to limited

fossil resources, which is the main ingredient of regular plastics. Since this product is made out of

renewable resources, it can be manufactured without endangering the environment and it could

lessen the production cost that could be greatly beneficial to the manufacturer.

Future Researchers. The outcome of this study could serve as reference data in understanding

and knowing about the use and effects of the biodegradable plastics in order for them to be further

enlightened on their current and future similar studies. Furthermore, this could be also be of great

help for them to broaden their ideas on this particular topic.

Scope and Limitation

The Investigatory Project is about alternative plastics called Biodegradable Plastics. This project

will undergo experiments before we finalize. It needs a certain materials to it to be able to this

product.

The way of collecting information is through finding topics or studies that is relate to bioplastics.

Also, from the ideas of every researchers to come up to this project.

The uses of our project is also the same with the common plastics but in a cheaper way and to

prevent its harmful effects. Unlike the regular plastics, this project will not use chemical

compounds to make bioplastics. Also, this study will be produce approximately 6 weeks or less.
Hypothesis

Fish scale is a rigid material which covers the skin of the fish. Huge amounts of fish waste are

discard every single day that usually buried in landfill or incinerated. It is translucent and flexible,

making it a candidate for single-use packaging such as bags and sandwich wrappers, and

importantly, it will break down in home composts or food waste bins within four to six weeks.

The development of bio-based plastics, or bioplastics, has provided humanity with a more eco-

friendly alternative for the production of packaging and single-use items. Unlike traditional plastic

and biodegradable plastics, bioplastics generally do not produce a net increase in carbon dioxide

gas when they break down. Another benefit to the product is that it is low-energy to produce, based

on waste and not giving harm on the earth’s natural resources.

Definition of Terms

Bioplastics - is a plastic material produced from renewable biomass resources, Such as vegetable

fats and oils, Cornstarch and recycled food waste.

Agar Starch - is a differential media that tests the ability of an organism to produce certain exo

enzymes.

Fish Scale - is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish
Biodegradable plastics - are plastics that can be decomposed by the action of living organisms,

usually microbes, carbon dioxide, and biomass.

Anaerobic Waste System - is a biological process where microorganisms degrade organic

contaminants in the absence of oxygen.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

Bioplastics

The extensive production of conventional plastics and their use in different commercial

applications poses a significant threat to both the fossil fuels sources and the environment.

Alternatives called bioplastic evolved during development of renewable resources. Utilizing

renewable resources like agricultural wastes (instead of petroleum sources) and their

biodegradability in different environments enabled these polymers to be more easily acceptable

than the conventional plastics. The biodegradability of bioplastics is highly affected by their

physical and chemical structure. On the other hand, the environment in which they are located,

plays a crucial role in the biogradation. This review highlights the recent findings attributed to the

biodegradation of bioplastics in various environments, environmental conditions, degree of

biodegradation, including the indentified bioplastic-degrading microorganisms from different

microbial communities. (SM Emadian. 2017)

Currently used plastics were produced from petrochemical products, but there is a growing demand

for eco-friendly plastics. The use of bio-based plastics, which are produced from renewable

resources, and biodegradable plastics, which are degraded in the environment, will lead to a more

sustainable society and help us solve global environmental and waste management problems.

(Tadahista Iwata, 2015)

Biodegradable and compostable plastics offer innovative solutions to improve recycling quality

by facilitating the means for more efficient separate collection of bio-waste and help to divert

organic waste from other recycling streams. Organic recycling is a well-established industrial

process ensuring the circular use for biodegradable plastics while creating a strong secondary raw

material market and opportunity for renewable energy generation. (Berlin, 2017)

Starch-based

The disintegration of starch-based plastics will occur in properly managed landfills, soil, and

anaerobic waste systems. As degradable plastics have become more widely publicized, questions

have been raised by environmental and consumer groups about the effects the degrading products

will have on soil and ground water. The aerobic refuse burial was carried out with relatively heavy

organic loads with the composition of municipal solid waste excluding metal and glass.

Temperature is a critical factor in both the biological activity of an environment and the rate of

reactions catalyzed by pro-oxidants.The addition of starch produced a significant reduction in

breaking strength, elongation, and energy to break. (Gene Iannotti, et al.,2018)

Due to the negative environmental impacts of synthetic plastics, the development of biodegradable

plastics for both industrial and commercial applications is essential today. Researchers have
developed various starch-based composites for different applications. The present work

investigates the corn and rice starch-based bioplastics for packaging applications. Various samples

of bioplastics are produced, with different compositions of corn and rice starch, glycerol, citric

acid, and gelatin. The tensile properties were improved after adding rice starch. However, water

absorption and water solubility were reduced. The results show the suitability of rice and corn-

based thermoplastic starch for packaging applications. (M. K. Marichelvam, et al., 2019)

Fish Waste

The objective of this study was to prepare the wheat gluten based bioplastics with fish scale (FS)

through compression molding. The tensile strength of the wheat gluten/FS composites (the range

of 6.5–7.5 MPa) was higher than that of the neat wheat gluten-based bioplastic (3.40 MPa). There

was a good dispersion of the fish scale powder embedded within the wheat gluten matrix. Dynamic

mechanical analysis results showed that the tan delta max peak height and storage modulus of the

wheat gluten-based bioplasic was reduced by adding the fish scale. Moreover, the addition of the

fish scale caused a weight loss and the surface of the wheat gluten based bioplastic after 120 h of

accelerated weathering were differed from the neat wheat gluten based bioplastic. These results

may help to find a new applications for fish scale waste to control the degradation rate of a wheat

gluten based bioplastic in the agricultural field. (S Thammahiwes, et, al., 2017)

Despite disadvantages of plastic materials such as environmental pollution, toxic material

accumulation, reasons such as elasticity, easy shape and cheap materials have been preferred.

However, environmental pollution has increased due to the ease of transportation, single use in
daily life and intensive use. Because of this, bioplastics have emerged as a solution and are thought

to be more beneficial to the environment. Bioplastics are a form of plastic derived from renewable

biomass sources, such as vegetable oil, corn starch, pea starch or microorganisms, instead of fossil

fuel plastic derived from petroleum. Recently, bioplastic production of fish wastes has been

started. With the recycling of wastes, instead of leaving these crustacean products to the

environment, new products have been started to be evaluated by chemical or biological methods.

Thus, the process called recycle of waste become environmental friendly, economical, healthy.

Also its reduces the usage o petroleneum derived product by using bioplastics instead of plastic.

For all of that reasons bioplastic usage increased in our life. ( Emel Varna, et al., 2019)
BIOPLASTICS FROM FISH SCALES

Regina Angeli Dei

De-Andrie Gotuato
Jerome Nuevo
Kristine Blanco Valle
Maria Elena Javillionar
Rafsanjanie Pendiaman
Renz Boneo