With the decreasing pace of shifting from plastic to other alternatives, we can notice there are still millions of plastic bags being discarded every minute around the world. To tackle this issue a group of researchers invents fully biodegradable barley plastic and sugar beet waste fiber.
The University of Copenhagen’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences researchers have invented a new material. Made from modified starch, this new material decomposes in nature completely within 2 months. This material is ideal for food packaging as it is made from natural plant material.
Professor Andreas Blennow of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences says, “We have an enormous problem with our plastic waste that recycling seems incapable of solving. Therefore, we’ve developed a new type of bioplastic that is stronger and can better withstand water than current bioplastics. At the same time, our material is one hundred percent biodegradable and can be converted into compost by microorganisms if it ends up somewhere other than a bin.”
Fact: Merely 9% of plastic is recycled globally while the rest is either incinerated, winding up in nature, or dumped forming huge plastic landfills.
Although bioplastic does exist, the name itself is misleading, according to Prof. Blennow. Even though they are made from bio-derived materials, only a limited part of them is actually degradable, and that too under special conditions in industrial composting plants.
Raw materials
Thus, the new material is called biocomposite and is composed of several different substances that can decompose naturally. The main ingredients include cellulose and amylose extracted from barley, wheat, corn, and potatoes. The carbohydrate, cellulose, is found in almost all plants including cotton and wood.
Highlights
- Researchers developed this new material by dissolving raw materials in water and then mixing them. Or by heating them under pressure.
- After the process, small chips or pellets are created that are processed or compressed into desired forms.
- The research team developed a variety of barley that produces pure amylose in its kernels. Unlike regular starch, amylose is less likely to convert into a paste when interacts with water.
- Researchers used nanocellulose, made from local sugar industry waste. These are a thousand times smaller than line and cotton fibers.
- The material’s mechanical strength comes from these nanocellulose fibers.
Have you read about Kobe University’s microbial plastic factory to produce high-quality green plastic?
The image below shows the degradation of different plastic materials.
- Top-left: Common LDPE plastic film
- Top-center and right: New amylose-based bioplastic and cornstarch plastic
- Bottom: 3 different conventional bioplastic bags
- A: Marks the start of the experiment
- B: Degradation after 8 days
- C: Degradation after 11 days
- D: After 21 days
- E: After 42 days
- F: After 54 days

Potential
Presently, Prof. Blennow is working with 2 Danish packaging companies to create food packaging prototypes. He also sees the potential to use this material in car interiors.
Researchers invent fully biodegradable barley plastic but it is hard to predict when this material will be available commercially as only their prototypes are produced in the lab. However, Prof. Blennow says that production is getting started in Denmark and various other parts of the world.
Source: Researchers invent one hundred percent biodegradable “barley plastic”