Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are pioneering a new technique for the use of banana plants in the production of plastic products. The Polymer Processing Research Centre is taking part in a €1 million study known as the Badana project. The project will develop new procedures to incorporate by-products from banana plantations in the Canary Islands into the production of rotationally moulded plastics. In addition to the environmental benefits, the project will increase the profitability of the plantation owners and help job security for those working in the area. The natural fibres contained within banana plants may be useful in the production of rotationally moulded plastics, which are used to make everyday items such as, oil tanks, wheelie bins, water tanks, traffic cones, plastic dolls and many types of boats. The banana plant fibres will be processed, treated and added to a mix of plastic material and sandwiched between two thin layers of pure plastic providing excellent structural properties. The project gives a whole new meaning to ‘banana sandwich’.
The new technique will have substantial environmental benefits. It will hopefully result in a substantial reduction in the amount of Polyethylene used in the rotational moulding process, ushering in a new and more sustainable era in the production of rotationally moulded plastics. The research and development of this new approach will help create jobs and the banana plantations will ultimately benefit financially from the sale of the remains of millions of harvested banana plants, which would otherwise go to waste.
The funding for the Badana project has been provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme. For more information about the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s visit www.qub.ac.uk
