Abstract

                                Bioplastics are biologically derived, biodegradable polymers. Food wasteis a challenge for sustainable development as it can increase greenhousegas emissions and other issues related to the environment. Meanwhile,plastic waste contributes significantly to environmental pollution. Becauseof increasing environmental concerns due to conventional plastics,the development of “environmentally friendly” materials has attractedextensive interest. Fruit waste is known to increase during fruit processingand manufacturing. The present study aims to explore the potential of fruitwaste as a bioplastic material as an environmentally friendly alternativeto conventional plastic. Most of the fruit wastes have the potential to bedeveloped as bioplastics as they contain starch, cellulose, pectin, and otherbiopolymers. Some of the fruit waste is generated by the fruit processingindustries, including banana peel, pineapple peel, durian seed, jackfruitseed, avocado seed, orange peel, jackfruit perianth, pomegranate peel anddragon fruit peel etc. The production of bioplastics from fruit waste offers thepotential to indirectly address two issues, namely reducing plastic waste andfruit waste, at the same time, thereby promoting environmental sustainability.In order to overcome the challenges and develop workable methods forproducing bio-based plastics, it is in fact necessary to step up innovations andresearch in this area. This eco-friendly strategy can reduce our dependency onconventional polymers made of fossil fuels and take us to a more sustainablefuture.

Key words : Fruit waste, Bioplastics, Biodegradable, Ecofriendly, Sustainable