Waste Reduction through Agricultural Packaging Solutions (WRAPS)

Research, experiments, and testing completed by Austin Marshalek, Andie Zion, and Dr. Julian Silverman.

This project was graciously supported by the FIT President's Sustainability Council and the National Science Foundation (Award #1919563).

Check out our paper in Sustainability & Circularity NOW on using Sustainability Metrics to evaluate papermaking processes:

Plaque about cornhusk paper at the Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum

The Proposal

Most materials used for packaging consumer products end their life as waste in landfills and contribute to pollution. About 30% of the total waste produced by the United States each year includes petroleum-derived and paper-based packaging as it is used by virtually every industry across the economy. A meaningful way to prevent waste is to create packaging from recycled waste materials, though most recycled packing materials still use around 50% virgin feedstocks to make the final product. Corn is the largest agricultural product in the United States and contributes to over 250 million tons of biowaste annually. To reduce the need for virgin feedstocks in single-use materials, waste corn husks are a viable option to create environmentally-friendly, recyclable and compostable packaging. In this project, we are testing a circular process with benign oxidants for making a paper-based packaging material derived from 75% corn husks and 25% other waste derived content such as sheets of used paper, dryer lint, and banana peels. Our goal is to use circular processes to connect designers and consumers to help them think about the sustainability of everyday materials. This can help increase the percentage of recycled content in packaging materials and reduce the effects of waste from paper and plastics manufacturing.

The Materials

Like every industry, American corn farms and distributors produce waste. This can be waste such as corn stalks left to decompose in the field, corn husks, corn cobs, and even kernels. The opportunity for new life lies within the building blocks of corn itself. By using ozone, Sodium Hydroxide, and activated charcoal we are breaking down corn husks into finer strands. By mixing those strands with other waste materials like dryer lint, banana peels, and used paper, we can create new sustainable materials to use for packaging.

The Process

To make the new material, we first break down the cornhusks by cutting and blending. After, we begin to ozonate the husks. In this process, we pump ozone into a large container filled with cornhusks. The large container is connected in series to two flasks that contain Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and charcoal, respectively. The NaOH helps break down the cornhusks, and the charcoal breaks down to ozone for safety. After that, we blend the husks a second time and mix 4 parts corn husks to 1 part reclaimed material (paper, lint, banana). We then pull a sheet of paper using a deckle and mold.