Elif Bilgin, a 16 year old from Istanbul, Turkey has accomplished creating bio-plastic from banana peels. Driven to find alternatives to petroleum produced plastics, Elif used trial and error over a period of two years with 10 failed
experiments before coming up with a plastic that could retain its quality and structure long term. Despite the setbacks, Elif was fueled by Thomas Edison’s words of, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” She demonstrated the method of using banana peels in her online science entry and showed how with only a little equipment, certain plasticizer ingredients and starch from banana peels, it would be possible to create plastic retaining quality and structure long term. She is the winner of the 2013 Science in Action award, addressing the need for environmentally friendly alternatives with practical resources of easy-to-attain banana peels.
Personally, I have to say that this girl is amazing and has a brilliant creative mind to make this bio-plastic, and that her invention shows how environmentally friendly alternatives are starting to become more prominent in today’s world.
Hooray for science! 🙂
Source: http://www.trueactivist.com/16-year-old-invents-sustainable-bio-plastic-from-banana-peels/
