Green Polymer Development: Biodegradable plastic from invasive plant cellulose and its environmental impact

Our goal is to develop a better alternative to biodegradable plastic, therefore we decided to create a polymer from weed cellulose. Nowadays, biodegradable plastics are manufactured from ethanol or cellulose derived from wood fibre, resulting in extensive corn plantations and logging. As a result, we opted to harvest weeds for their cellulose and starch rather than eliminate them and pollute the soil with herbicides. Our approach is ecological from the beginning to the end of the project: we extract cellulose from weeds and mix it with starch, glycerol, vinegar, and water to make a biodegradable bioplastic. This new material could be useful in the future, replacing extremely polluting and non-biodegradable plastics, while simultaneously creating new employment opportunities through weed control.