17-year-old from California turns food waste into biodegradable paper towels

Presented at the International Science and Engineering Fair, Kodavati’s research offers an inventive answer to two growing environmental challenges: the enormous amount of food that ends up as waste and the environmental footprint of disposable paper products. Kodavati’s process begins by drying and reducing.

The material then undergoes acid, alkaline and bleaching treatments to remove unwanted components and isolate cellulose-rich fibres. The recovered cellulose is combined with pectin, a naturally occurring plant-based polymer, before being formed into thin sheets.

What Happened

The sheets are then treated with calcium chloride. Calcium ions help link charged groups in the pectin, creating a stronger internal structure.

• Tests showed that calcium-based crosslinking could slow absorption by around 20% to 40% in some formulations.

• Yet its promise lies in its simplicity: turning something we throw away into something we use again.

• Kodavati’s invention is still a laboratory-stage concept, and much more research and larger-scale testing are needed before it could become a commercial product.

Key Details

However, it substantially improved wet strength. Wet strength increased from approximately 0.19 newtons in uncrosslinked material to as much as 0.34 newtons after treatment.

• With further development, the combination of recovered cellulose, plant-based pectin and calcium reinforcement could be explored for wipes, packaging materials and absorbent mats.

• The idea could potentially extend beyond paper towels.

• Large-scale production would have to account for food-waste collection and transport, processing, chemicals, energy, equipment and quality control.

Why It Matters

The prototypes, tested as 5-by-5-centimetre sheets, absorbed around 5 to 6 millilitres of liquid per sheet. The most promising formulations had effective pore sizes of roughly 20 to 30 micrometres, while different sheet weights and pectin concentrations were also tested.COULD WASTE-BASED PAPER.

• But these figures are projections rather than evidence of an established commercial product.

• At large scale, Kodavati estimated a potential cost of about USD 2.98 for 100 sheets, compared with approximately USD 3.40 per 100 sheets for the sustainable paper towel used as a benchmark.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by India Today as more details emerge