Biodegradable Food Container from Rice Straw and Sugarcane Bagasse with Orange Peel Addition

Plastic waste continues to increase by 4% every year. One type of plastic is Styrofoam, which comes from polystyrene (PS) polymers. However, Styrofoam has the disadvantage that it is not easily decomposed in nature. It is necessary to replace plastic-based food containers using biodegradable, abundantly available, low-cost natural materials. This research uses rice straw and bagasse with the addition of orange peel to give the best results on water absorption, tensile strength, and degradation time in food containers. The orange peel addition is varied at 0%, 5%, and 10% (w/w). In the water absorption test, the best value was obtained at 10.95% for the bagasse container with the addition of orange peel at 10% (w/w). In contrast, the best water absorption for the rice straw container was 11.02%, with the addition of orange peel at 10% (w/w). In the tensile strength test, the best value was obtained by the bagasse container at 6.592 MPa with the addition of orange peel at 10% (w/w) and rice straw at 4.3812 MPa with the addition of orange peel at 10% (w/w). Degradation tests showed that these natural containers can be degraded within two months in the soil.