{"id":170552,"date":"2025-07-22T16:55:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=170552"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T16:08:23","slug":"biodegradable-plastic-from-coffee-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/industrial-transformation\/biodegradable-plastic-from-coffee-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"A Material of the Future: Petroleum-Free Plastic Made from Coffee Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine that after brewing your morning coffee, instead of tossing the grounds into the trash, they could be repurposed to create a more eco-friendly type of plastic. That\u2019s precisely the goal of a team of researchers who have developed a biodegradable compound<\/strong> by blending polylactic acid (PLA) with coffee waste<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cecilia Trevi\u00f1o<\/a>, a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing<\/a> (IAMSM) and professor at the School of Engineering and Sciences<\/a> at Tec de Monterrey\u2019s Quer\u00e9taro campus, explains that the project received support from Fundaci\u00f3n FEMSA<\/a>\u2019s \u201cMaterials of the Future<\/strong>\u201d initiative. It aims to add value to the waste generated during the production of Andatti coffee, which is sold in Oxxo convenience stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLA is a type of plastic that, while considered a more sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, still contains components derived from petroleum or agro-industrial residues, which makes it harder to break down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Used coffee grounds, meanwhile, are rarely repurposed. They typically end up in the trash and, more often than not, in landfills. There, as they decompose, they release methane\u2014a greenhouse gas with a far greater warming potential than CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, the scientists developed a new formulation to enhance this plastic by mixing it with agro-industrial coffee waste. \u201cIn addition to having better biodegradation properties<\/strong>, it also improves mechanical strength and stretchability<\/strong>, making it an ideal material for packaging perishable foods,\u201d says Trevi\u00f1o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond these improvements, Trevi\u00f1o, who also works with the Department of Mechanics and Advanced Materials<\/strong> at the Quer\u00e9taro campus, points out that the resulting compound is competitively priced compared to other plastics with a higher environmental impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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