Banana plastic? Say what?!

Elif Bilgin, a 16-year-old girl from Istanbul, Turkey recently won $50,000 as the winner of the Google Science Fair. Her innovative invention that won her the grand prize: a process that turns banana peels into bio-plastic. Bilgin created her process over the course of two years while running tests in her school library as well as in her home kitchen.

Bilgin attends a school in Istanbul for gifted children that provides them with the resources to focus their interests and to develop innovations. After her success at the science fair, Bilgin was interviewed about her innovative creation. She quotes: 

"The method I designed is so simple, it is possible to say that one could actually do it at home. This way, anyone could use this plastic. Also, our beautiful planet will be spared from the consequences of the production of plastics with petroleum derivatives in them such as pollution of the air, land and water. In the future, I would like to do more projects concerning the environment. For example, my biggest dream is to build a greenhouse made of waste materials."

In regards to her inspiration, Bilgin explored the hypothesis that if mango skins, used by bio-plastic researchers for their starch and cellulose, can be turned into plastic, then so can starchy banana peels. After eight failed experiments, Bilgin found success with her ninth and tenth where the production of plastic was achieved.

Such discovery has the potential to completely revolutionize and exponentially reduce human waste and damage to the earth. Bilgin may have just kick-started a new age of bio-plastic that is cheap, accessible, and practical.









Sources:
http://bigthink.com/purpose-inc/turkish-teen-makes-plastic-out-of-banana-peels
http://9gag.tv/p/a5dX8r/elif-bilgin-turkish-girl-brilliant-experiment-change-you-think-about-bananas