This Teenage Scientist Developed A Bioplastic Using Paper, Cotton, And Corn Husks

As teenagers, most of what we did was going to school, hanging out with friends, and join some extra curriculum activities. However, Jacqueline Prawira has already become a scientist and has come up with her own invention. This 14-year-old girl has created a new bioplastic from cotton, paper, and corn husks.

In January, Prawira said that her experiments were focused on the three materials mentioned above as people often throw them into landfills, which eventually get carried in waterways. From thee materials, she managed to extract cellulose fibers to create a broken rice starch-based bioplastic that’s not only strong but also flexible.

The teenage scientists said that this way, her plastic can serve as a disposable material for making items used in our daily lives. This will help us upcycle the garbage rather than dumping it in landfills from which it will flow into the ocean.

Bioplastics are not made from traditional materials that pollute the environment. Recently, scientists discovered that they can break down plant-based sugar into molecules, which can link together and form plastics. They hope that bioplastics can help mankind decrease the carbon footprint left by myriad industries that use plastic.

In October, the girl won an award for her innovation, title Marconi/Samueli Award, at BROADCOM Masters science competition for youth. The next goal for her is to come up with a bioplastic that can degrade completely in the ocean and soil. She wants to tackle the plastics problem, which in her definition, is that we depend too much on single-use plastic.

Prawira is also aware that the issue with plastics will quickly catch up with mankind, and she needs to be proactive. She loves to look for and obtain new knowledge as well as explore questions that no one has asked yet, which are crucial skills for scientists if they want to make a difference.