The Idea

I have a habit of eating an unreasonable number of oranges. Before long, a pile of peels on my desk had grown larger than my head. They brought colour to my messy desk and filled the room with a citrusy scent, but eventually they would become nothing more than food waste.

This project began with a simple question: Could something I throw away every day become a new material?

Using food waste as a resource rather than a by-product, I set out to develop a biodegradable material that could replace everyday plastics while giving discarded food a second life.

As plastic grocery bags gradually disappeared from supermarkets and were replaced by paper alternatives, I began to wonder if there was another possibility. What if a lightweight, flexible material made from food waste could offer a more sustainable alternative, one that combined the convenience of plastic with the environmental benefits of biodegradability?

My first batch!

Green: celery

Purple: purple cabbage

Yellow: grapefruit peel

Brown: black tea