Utilization of Cempedak Fruit for Biodegradable Plastic Production

Abstract

The abundance of plastic waste that is difficult to decompose on the ground has a negative impact on the environment. Biodegradable plastic is a plastic film used as disposable item such as food service packaging that can be naturally degraded. In this research, biodegradable plastic was produced from flour of cempedak meat (Artocarpus champeden) and glycerin as plasticizer. Experimental results show that the biodegradable plastic could be produced from ordinary glycerin and flour of cempedak meat. Increasing the glycerin amount reduced the quality of biodegradable plastic as based on the tensile strength value, elongation and water resistance. The biodegradable plastics with glycerin amount of 1.5 mL resulted in a tensile strength value of 44.2 MPa; elongation of 40.8%; water resistance 88.36%. The plastics could be also degraded in soil during ten days.