Member - Hya Bioplastics

Hya Bioplastics is a startup that creates biodegradable packaging from agricultural waste. We use starch-biofiber composites relying on plant-fiber from agricultural waste and starch from the largely undervalued cassava(tapioca) starch. There is a growing demand for green food packaging across the African continent primarily coming from the customers and changing government policies. With about 30 of 53 countries across the continent having introduced partial or full bans on single-use plastic packaging, restaurants and other food-related businesses are transitioning to greener more sustainable packaging. Plastic pollution has had adverse effects such as blocked drainage channels across most major cities that lead to frequent disease outbreaks. With the growing need for sustainable packaging, all green packaging is imported from China and India. This leaves it much more expensive in comparison to conventional plastics. There is a need for a more cost-effective green sustainable packaging made from locally available bio-sourced materials. Our solution. At Hya Bioplastics, we have created a biodegradable packaging material from thermoplastic starch and fiber composites. We have been able to experiment and use a variety of plant fibers such as sugarcane bagasse, corn stover, banana stems as well as sawdust. For our starch source, we have been able to extensively experiment with cassava starch. We have been able to design and fabricate our mini-pilot scale machinery in-house including a small extruder and a thermoforming machine to achieve our current production of about 50-100 trays per day. We have been in production for the past 3 months getting more than $1000 in revenue for our vegetable and fruit trays.