Water-soluble gift wrapper made from lemon and orange peels | Fusion - WeRIndia

Many people rethink the usage of plastic due to its ill effects on the environment. While some people are opting for alternative products to plastic, some others are exploring innovative products. As a result, many new products are emerging into the market.

This 21-year-old student innovated water-soluble gift wrappers from lemon and orange peels. Namya Parikh is pursuing a Product Industrial Design course at Pearl Academy’s School of Design, Delhi.

Namya created a biomaterial using dried lemon and orange peels. She used agar powder to bind them. She says that this material can be used as dry packaging material.

Namya made it as part of her course assignment. Her assignment was to find a sustainable alternative to plastic.

Due to lockdown, students were studying remotely. So, Namya wanted to use kitchen waste to innovate a sustainable product.

Initially, she thought to use eggshells, vegetable or banana peels. For a binding agent, she wanted to use potato starch or cornstarch. However, she found the end product was not good and did not meet her expectations. It was too thick or brittle.

So, Namya started using citrus peels and agar. After several trials and errors, she succeeded in her attempts. She got the right formula with which she made a flexible and strong biomaterial.  The material can be poured into moulds in a wet form to get the desired shape.

The process involves multiple steps like grinding the peels, binding them and air-drying. These bio sheets can be used to wrap gifts. After wrapping with these sheets, brushing little water is enough to stick the ends.

She also checked its biodegradability by burying it in the ground, which dissolved completely in a couple of days.

Namya is also working on making jewellery using these bio sheets along with another fashion designer.

Image from Pxfuel (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-xehth