That's bananas! Agri waste to bioplastics

114.08 million metric tons of banana waste-loss (Acevedo et al. 1) a year - that’s just bananas. I don’t know that many people that eat the skin of the banana, mine usually ends up in the bin. But the skin isn’t the only banana waste, in fact the whole stem-esque tree often ends up as waste, as only on banana crop grows, usually for 8 months, the bananas are taken, and the stem is chopped down. Leading to the whopping 60% of banana biomass being wasted. Given that food waste accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Amicarelli et al. 1), and holds a trillion dollar price tag, this banana issue is bad, not banoffee. 

But.. There's a banana resolution, from bioplastics to blazers, the innovation and opportunity around banana waste are forever ripening. Papyrus is an Australian company, with Egyptian ties, that has been using agri waste from the surrounding banana farms in Sohag and Sharqiyah, to create food packaging and natural fertilisers. Their brilliant banana work is linked here. 

Innovation in the agri waste resolution has even entered the runway. From banana waste to blazers, the Kenyan fashion house Lila Bare, uses local agri waste to create the most divine couture. Not only is this a solution to the fatal fast fashion industry, but also addresses the abundance of agri waste. Further, Lila Bare has mastered the art of timeless elegance, the designer, Ria Ana Sejpal, paints it perfectly, as a brand ‘where the boundary between the timeless and the radical dissolve’. You’d be bananas not to check this brand out. 

The brilliance doesn’t stop there, in fact, banana waste holds the key, or should we say peel to ending period poverty. Kristen Kagestu, is the CEO and cofounder of Saathi, an Indian start up that has created sanitary pads out of banana fibre from agri waste. With 200 million women in rural India without any access to the basic needs for most women aged 13 to 47; clean sanitary products. This startup tackles a tri-factor of global issues; food waste, period poverty and the removal of plastic and toxins in the majority of mainstream sanitary products. Further, Saathi is creating systematic solutions, as they don’t just supply a biodegradable essential, they also ask, and answer the key issues, including, are there safe and clean spaces for women to change these products? Where can women dispose of these products? What education do women have on these products? 

They have set up access to period products, and have started the ‘Flush the dropout rate’ campaign, creating toilets for females in schools, so young girls aren’t faced with the need to leave school due to the fact there is no safe and sanitary place to pee, or even change a sanitary pad. Saathi are creating fantastic change, in the nexus of social, environmental and economic benefit. I look forward to the day I can buy their product off the shelves of my local shop. 

Further, the market research in banana waste based period products shows promising growth. The compound annual growth rate - CAGR is at a rising 6%, in simple terms, this means that there is more consumer demand for the sustainable product, as there is simultaneously more production of these sanitary products. How brilliant are bananas! 

From banoffee pies to blazers, splits to sanitary pads, bread to bioplastics. The innovation stemming from agri waste is quite incredible. Contributing to a plastic alternative as well as reducing food waste, we are living in an exciting era surrounding the solution to food waste! 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and perhaps what would you make from banana waste? 

Works Cited

Acevedo, Sasha Alzate, et al. “Recovery of Banana Waste-Loss from Production and Processing: A Contribution to a Circular Economy.” MDPI, vol. Molecules 26, no. 17, 2021, p. 5282. MDPI, https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/17/5282#B76-molecules-26-05282. Accessed 5 5 2025.

Amicarelli, Vera, et al. “Global warming potential of food waste through the life cycle assessment: An analytical review, Environmental Impact Assessment Review,.” Science direct, vol. 91, no. 106677, 2021, pp. 0195-9255. Science direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019592552100127X. Accessed 6 5 2025.