Bioplastic by Merencena

We began producing and selling cereal bars and granolas made from barley spent grain provided by the local AB InBev brew company (CERVEPAR). Our cereal bars are packaged in PP single-use plastic. Merencena team has evaluated new types of packaging. As we began to produce bananas dehydrated, we saw the big banana peels to waste. So our R+D manager began to investigate alternative uses of banana peels to produce starch. And trough starch produces biopolymers as more friendly environment packaging.

Our solution consists of the production of biodegradable polymers from the raw material of vegetable origin (agroindustry by-products, such as banana peels, beets, cassava, and barley spent grain) that contain starch and mixed with other components and reinforcements such as ETP (effluent treatment plant) mud.

A positive externality of our plastic is that it will reduce the amount of petroleum-based plastics that are disposed of in the municipal landfill, also reducing the possibility of fires in that place in the long term.

On the other hand, once its useful life is over, it can return to nature, serving as fertilizer for crops due to the large number of nutrients that our biopolymer has.

Globally, more than 300 million tons of plastics are produced annually, and around 75% of all marine debris is plastic. The durability properties make plastics resistant to biological degradation, once discarded in the environment, causing pollution in the environment.

The process of removing these polymers from landfills entails costs and negatively impacts the environment. Various technological efforts are being made through recycling techniques, meanwhile, the production of non-degradable plastics is growing sharply in relation to their disposal.

As a result of this problem, industries and the scientific community seek to develop and obtain biodegradable materials to inhibit the impact associated with synthetic polymers. Biodegradable polymers are materials that come from nature (like the starch in fruit peels) and does not harm the environment. Fruit peels and barley bagasse already have a low cost, being by-products, and high availability in the food industries.

Considering the above, this initiative seeks to maintain the quality of water and soil resources, offering reliable packaging for consumers.

We provide a bioplastic pellet to conventional plastics factories to produce packaging devices, that are more friendly environment when they are thrown away.

We upcycle agro-industrial by-products that currently end up as animal feed or in landfills. Improving by-products value, our bioplastic worth US$ 4/kilo versus a fertilizer (in the best case) that worth US$ 1/kilo.

The positive effect on our society and our environment is the possibility of reducing the impact since a part of our bioplastic is made up of natural inputs, which do not leave residues in nature. This characteristic could prevent the increase in the volume of waste in the municipal landfill of the city of Asunción, providing a better environment for families that work and live behind the garbage dump.

Another additional advantage of this proposal is that it is not necessary to implement a recycling program since the packaging produced with our bioplastic biodegrades in contact with moisture.

Recyclers and their families that work and live near to the municipal landfill in Asuncion city, would not be so affected by the endless amount of petroleum-based plastic that is disposed of there daily.

We are making lab tests (traction, endurance, and Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy (FTIRM)) for our prototypes in order to improve their characteristics and begin the biodegradable certification process.

The technological differentiation, which makes it unique, is based on the unique formulation that we have developed to be able to use the agroindustry waste that we have in abundance here in Paraguay (banana peels, beet, cassava, barley spent grain, and Effluent Treatment Plant mud), thanks to alliances with CERVEPAR brewery and ECO AGRO small producers partners; increasing the value of waste by creating a biodegradable polymer (at a price of US $ 4.00 / kilogram) that can replace a large number of petroleum-based packaging, thus reducing the negative impact on the environment.

On the other hand, once its useful life is over, it can return to nature, serving as fertilizer for crops (in the best case) due to the large number of nutrients that our biopolymer has.

People that currently benefit from our solution are Eco Agro small producers, and employees. When we expand our production this is the forecast.

People who will benefit from our solution:

a) # of ECO AGRO smallholders. 2021:4; 2022:10; 2024:50.

b) # of people living in neighbors with recycling initiative. 

2021:0; 2022:12.000; 2024:60.000.

c) # of people living near municipal landfill with better air quality. 

2021:0; 2022:200; 2024:5.000.

d) Employees that produce Bioplastics. 2021:2; 2022:3; 2024:8.

Our 6 indicators to measure our progress toward impact goals are:

Indicators

1. Increase incomes for ECO AGRO smallholders (USD)

2. Reduce petroleum-based plastic in packaging (kilograms)

3. Reduce CO2 emissions needed to produce petroleum-based plastic (kilograms)

4. Increase # of neighbors of Asuncion City, in the recycle initiative https://www.mibarriosinresiduos.com.py/

5. # of people living near municipal landfill with better air quality.

6. Increase employment in our bioplastic factory (# of employees)

Full-time staff: two (a woman and a man).

Part-time staff (consultants): two women.

The development of the solution and the coordination of the project is in charge of Eng. Ind. Elma Peña de Gamarra, who has investigated and carried out the biopolymer production tests for more than 10 months. Elma studied Industrial Engineering and worked in Panama where she has born.

In the last four months, we have had the assistance of professionals with international experiences, such as Chemical Engineer María Magdalena Espínola. Eng. Espínola is a Post Doctoral Researcher at three universities and has five publications on polymers.

The commercial and alliance coordination is in charge of Javier Gamarra, Business Acceleration Expert.

Diversity experiences we collect from our team that is composed of university graduates from three different countries. Industrial engineering in Panama (Mrs. Elma Peña); chemical engineering in Brazil (Mrs. María Magdalena Espinola) and business accelerator in Paraguay (Mr. Javier Gamarra)

In MERENCENA team, we promote equity through open ideas and responsibility to implement new approaches with quick and cheap test procedures, do not taking account of members' labor or educational backgrounds, cause we know that innovation can surge at any moment or research corner.

We embrace inclusion through a partnership with APRO (Association of Organic Producers) that is integrated by more than 250 associates and who market their products under the ECO AGRO brand. Our current linkage will be formalized with a Cooperation Agreement to upcycling their by-products (peels) of the process they carry out for the production of jams and sauces.

We apply to Solve to network with solvers to share experiences with relevant researchers and partners and go through stages that must be passed so that agro-industrial waste can be used with a circular economy + open innovation approach for the benefit of people and nature.

Technical know-how is a key component in the development of our bioplastics. The learning curve must be ride at the correct velocity to get the best experience in each step. 

We want to connect and work with the Plastics & The Environment: Research Environmental Solutions Initiative of MIT.

Also, The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and its initiative BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE would be an interesting partner because they will deliver sustainable strategies and solutions for bio-based plastics and promote circularity in the economy.