Agricultural scientists in Uganda have invented biodegradable plastics from agricultural waste targeting nursery operators to use it for wrapping their seedlings.

This is in a bid to eliminate plastic used by nursery operators in various parts of the country causing environmental degradation and affecting soils littered with plastics.

This invention was revealed by scientists from the National Agricultural Crop Resources Research Institute in Wakiso district when disseminating their research findings about use of agricultural waste to develop biodegradable plastics.

Background

There is an extensive need to produce biodegradable plastics that have the ability to decompose in a short period of time hence saving the environment.

The production can be achieved using agricultural waste such as banana peels, cassava peels, maize waste, wheat straw and rice straw among others.

The statistics cited by scientists from Naro reflects that agricultural waste produced across the country to be about 1.4 million tonnes arising from vegetable processing and other crops residues amounts to 6.5 million tons annually.

As a result Biochemist scientists at NaCRRI came up with a concept of processing biodegradable plastics specifically for wrapping seedlings in nursery beds by nursery operators who deal in tree seedlings, coffee and other vegetative propagated plants.

This is in collaboration with the University of Bangor in UK with funding worthy 80,000 pounds about Shs371.8 million from the UK government running for 10 months

Research process

The head of the Biochemistry unit at NaCRRI Dr Ephraim Nuwamanya who carried out the research to develop biodegradable seedlings pots explained that nursery seed operators are using millions of tons of plastics which they dump in farmlands leading to soil degradation.

Dr Ephraim and team previously developed biodegradable plastic from Cassava starch to process packaging bags but failed to penetrate the market because of the tight competition from polythene plastic manufacturers.

It is his contention that focusing on nursery operators is a good entry point because the aim of the innovation is to help solve the challenge of soil contamination with piles of plastics.

The team during the research process went collecting agricultural waste from plants namely cassava, maize, banana and sorghum among others from farmer fields around Wakiso district.

It is left to dry and crushed into powder form and mixed with water and Sodium Chloride, heat on fire thereby obtaining a paste.

The paste is then passed through a machine called thinner to make a paper-like lining. It is then put in an oven to be dried

This is later put in a silk gel and dried once again in order to come up with a bioplastic product.

The production was performed at Bangor University in UK who have the required machine for processing the product.

They processed 90 meter of the biodegradable plastic which was shipped into Uganda.

The scientists are teaming up with Mount Elgon tree growing Enterprise located in Eastern Uganda where they have set up trial sites to raise tree seedlings wrapped in biodegradable plastics.

Advantage of Biodegradable plastics

According to the scientists, biodegradable plastics form organic matter which once planted with seedlings in the soil will degrade after six months thereby adding nutrients to the soil.

Once mass production kicks off in the country, it will be an income earning initiative to farmers because the waste material will be purchased from farmers. The challenge of animals consuming plastics in farms will be reduced because there will be no more littering.

However despite the advantages, the disadvantage is that the product is prone to insects such as termites.

However the scientists are processing insect repellent from the Tithonia Diversifolia plant which will be incorporated as part of the ingredients of the bioplastics.

Nursery trials

The director Mount Elgon tree Growers Enterprise George Sikoyo explained that his team has set up four trial sites within the outskirts of Mbale city where they have tree seedling nurseries.

Instead of potting the tree seedlings in plastic potting, they have used biodegradable plastics. At the moment they treat the materials with insecticide to avoid penetration of insects.

Some of the trials are on raised tables all in the effort to avoid insect penetration. The sites are acting as demonstration sites where farmers growing vegetables and tree seedlings come to learn on site and they have appreciated the technology.

Dr Nuwanya and team intend to formalize intellectual property issues with Uganda Bureau of Standards in order to roll out the technology.

However the team is calling upon the private sector to come on board to take up the technology for commercialization because the product is environmentally friendly.