Production of Starch Based Bioplastics and Their Applications in Food Packaging

Authors

M.Meenakshi, Assistant Professor, N.Gunasheela, Assistant Professor, M.Kaviyalakshmi, Research Scholar
Sri Rama Krishna Arts & Science College for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects. Most plastics are durable and degrade slowly, as their chemical structure renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation. Plastic and polymers have become a part of our life today. The annual consumption of plastics in India is 2kg/person/year. In India, plastic wastes accounts for 1-4% by weight of the total of 80,000 metric tonnes of Municipal solid waste generated daily. Only 10% of the disposed plastic are recycled. The remaining non-recovered and unused waste takes a very long time to degrade and be reduced to dust. The plastic wastes pose a serious problem to landscape, wildlife, marine animals and become an environmental eyesore. In last decades there has been an increasing interest in the development of renewable material with biodegradable properties in attempt to contribute to the sustainable development and to reduce the environmental impact of non-degradable petroleum based plastics. Bioplastics that are made from renewable resources which are easily broken down by microorganisms represent a new generation of plastics that can reduce the dependence on fossil fuels also at the same way can reduces the impact to the environment. In order to solve the problem, several studies have been reported the use of biodegradable starches from different sources to prepare films and coating with different properties. The aim of the present research was to obtain bioplastics from different sources that have antimicrobial ability to restrain or inhibit the growth of spoilage and or pathogenic microorganisms and to assess the degradation of those bioplastics using microorganisms and amylase enzyme isolated from bacteria and fungi. For determining the effectiveness of the bioplastics, several testing method can be used, most of them are based on the commercial antibiotic tests used generally in the microbiological practice for many years. The evaluation methods of sensitivity of particular microorganisms against the bioplastic is the disk diffusion method. The antimicrobial effect was tested on Staphylococcus aureus ( gram positive bacteria), Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( gram negative bacteria) using zone of inhibition test on solid media. The major application of starch based bioplastic in the work is to apply in food packaging.