The utilization of cellulose fiber from bagasse as natural reinforcement agent in biodegradable packaging production

The problem of inorganic plastic packaging waste has increaseh, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Inorganic plastic packaging tends to be in demand because it is flexible, strong and light. However, excessive use creates serious environmental problems. To overcome the excessive use of plastic packaging, biodegradable trays were developed as an alternative to inorganic plastic packaging. Biodegradable tray is an environmentally friendly packaging material made from starch. Starch is an ideal base material because it is a natural polymer source, renewable and capable of being degraded naturally. This study aims to determine the effect of the type of starch and the addition of natural fiber filler on the characteristics of the resulting biodegradable tray. Bagasse fiber is used as a filler to improve the mechanical properties of the biodegradable tray. The biodegradable tray was made by baking at a temperature of 125 oC for three hours using sago starch and corn starch. Bagasse fiber was added with concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. The biodegradable tray analysis carried out were water absorption, density decomposition and tensile strength tests. The best of sago starch based biodegradable tray was obtained at 10% fiber concentration with a tensile strength value of 3.1086 MPa, water absorption capacity of 4.69%, biodegradability of 50.57% and density of 1.1044 gram/cm3. The best results of corn starch-based biodegradable trays were obtained at a fiber concentration of 15% with a tensile strength value of 2.9812 MPa, water absorption capacity of 3.61%, biodegradability of 50.57% and density of 0.9114 gram/cm3.