Production of Ecofriendly Bioplastic Using Orange Peels: Towards the Greener Environment

Now a days the use of and need of conventional petroleum based plastics have increased globally. Petroleum based plastics globally is mainly used for food packaging material as it has good barrier properties, tensile strength etc. Along with the application it has one of the disadvantage is it affects the environment by causing land pollution and is threat to marine and human life. To overcome the environmental challenges production of bioplastics has been introduced. Bioplastics are the biodegradable plastics which can be degraded under certain conditions to overcome the environmental damage caused by plastic. Bioplastics are majorly made from the renewable biological sources like corn starch, carboxy methyl starch (CMS), cellulose, pectin etc. Bioplastic synthesis shows the utilization of agricultural waste like orange peels, banana peels, corn starch and other organic biodegradable waste. Bioplastics can be categorized into various types, based on the source that is been used, including cellulose-based, starch-based, protein-based, aliphatic and aromatic co-polyesters. Orange peels is used due to its high pectin content along with cellulose and hemicellulose for making biofilms. Using orange peels as source for bioplastic formation contribute to reduce environmental waste and production of eco-friendly products. Various methods and research has been carried for the production of biofilms from orange peels. To increase the flexibility and various chemicals are used such as glycerol, citric acid, acetic acid, carboxymethyl starch etc. various properties of bioplastics has been studied such as degradation rate, water solubility test, physiochemical properties of biofilm etc. Bioplastic from orange peels has various applications in industries such as molding, food packaging and production of carry bags. So, this review includes the production of bioplastic from orange peels and to overcome the environmental concerns.