Wrapping potato seeds in biodegradable paper made from unusable parts of banana plants reduces the infestation and harmful effects of a nasty plant pathogen—a worm called the potato cyst nematode—and sharply increases potato size and yields. Reported in Nature Sustainability, a recent study shows the banana paper helps disrupt signalsContinue Reading
SOURCE: Zulfiqar Kunbhar, Arab News HYDERABAD, Sindh: Scientists in Pakistan’s southeast Sindh province have begun extracting fiber from banana waste in what textile industry stakeholders and farmers hope could become an alternative to cotton. Banana fiber is one of the strongest natural fibers. Biodegradable and similar to bamboo fiber, itContinue Reading
SOURCE: Vincent D’Silva, New Strait Times Three Form Four students of SM I.J. Convent here won second prize at the National Tinkering Challenge 2021 held in Kuala Lumpur recently for developing packaging material from banana stems. Some 200 students nationwide took part in the competition, which called for submissions forContinue Reading
SOURCE: Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal Nextevo is putting an unconventional spin on sustainable fibers and yarns, turning to pineapples as the source of its spun fabric with the help of local farmers in Thailand and Indonesia. The material producer, established in June 2019 and headquartered in Singapore, blends ready-to-spin fibersContinue Reading
SOURCE: Andrew Spence, InDaily An Adelaide company that has spent more than 15 years perfecting its system of turning banana plantation waste into food packaging has completed a factory-scale trial to demonstrate the commercial viability of producing pizza boxes, burger clamshells, meal containers and dishes. The share price of publicly-listedContinue Reading
SOURCE: Manuel Rueda, Business Insider A company in Colombia is making eco-friendly plates out of the tops of old pineapples. And just like a pineapple top you can plant in your backyard, the plates made by Lifepack contain seeds that can sprout in soil. The plates are Lifepack’s latest effortContinue Reading
Farms in Hawaii could become “zero waste” if a state-funded demonstration project proves viable. The state’s Agribusiness Development Corp. is proposing to build a $1.5 million facility at the Shipman Business Park that would grow algae from leftover produce, in particular, papaya. The algae could then be usedContinue Reading
Uganda is the second largest producer of bananas after India with about 9 million tonnes produced annually. All this production creates tonnes of waste in form of stems and stocks. These are returned back to gardens to be used as fertilisers or mulching materials. But the stems and stocksContinue Reading