BACKGROUND

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Plastic pollution is a significant issue, especially as the plastics can break down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics that are small enough to invade our bodies

causing complications and health issues.

 

Creating biodegradable plastics could be a good solution, as the materials can break down properly and be recycled into non-harmful parts. Chicken feathers are a common and inexpensive by-product of the chicken farming industry that are readily available. 
 

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AIM: Chicken feathers are made up of keratin, a protein. We wanted to extract the keratin from waste feathers and use these to synthesise bioplastics.

 

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METHOD

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Taking waste feathers, breaking them down and extracting the keratin. Then a number of additives were used to make plastics with different properties, such as for medical applications, packing etc.
 

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OUTCOME

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A number of bioplastic films for a variety of applications ready for further research and investigation.

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