Scout

Denxybel Montinola

Making plastic sustainabl­e

Recent statistics peg the country as the world’s third largest contributo­r to ocean plastic, producing a whopping 2.7 million tons that—over 500,000 tons—ends up in our rivers and oceans, severely endangerin­g countless species and causing potentiall­y irreversib­le devastatio­n to marine ecosystems.

The Philippine­s’ plastic problem is urgent, persistent, and destructiv­e. It’s also a problem that 23- year- old Denxybel Montinola wasn’t planning on solving. At least, not beyond research.

“Creating bioplastic was not part of my original plan for my undergradu­ate graduate of the University of San Carlos’s BS applied physics program. “I was honestly pressured to apply what my pure science research can offer.” plastics are mostly made of petroleum and materials that are not found in nature. As a result, the agents in nature that normally break down organic matter (decomposer­s) petroleum- based plastic lasts for a hundred or lots of time alone in the university’s Medical Biophysics laboratory, studying and thinking. He wanted to bind all of this informatio­n with and create a solution.

As fate would have it, that binding agent turned out to be glue. Literally.

“[When I was a child,] I’d spread a thick layer of glue on my hands and let it air- dry until it

Using mango peels and seaweed— readily available materials that are easily convention­al plastics that we are using today.” By making the wise choice in buying biodegrada­ble products, we are minimizing our contributi­on to plastic pollution. It is important to take note that there are a lot of false advertisem­ents already in the market that are promoting biodegrada­ble plastics like straws and plastic bags. Please be aware that most of these products are not truly biodegrada­ble. Always keep in mind that non- plastic containers is the best solution for now. What are the limitation­s of your As of now, we’ve successful­ly created a dissolves within 10 minutes. I am still looking for ways in prolonging the dissolutio­n of this bioplastic for different applicatio­ns. We are still working on patenting this invention. After patenting, I will be coordinati­ng with the Department of Agricultur­e and the Department of Trade and Industry for the commercial­ization phase. However, I'm not closing my doors to other offers in commercial­izing this invention. What got you interested in STEM in the When I graduated from high school, I was I would take. The business track seemed obvious, given that my dad has a company. At the time, [I was passionate about] the arts, was discourage­d from pursuing my passion doesn't earn that much, and that there’s no future in it.

One day, my best friend told me about a university offering an applied physics course. I was curious and fascinated about what he day after.

The truth is that I was never really passionate place. But YOLO was my drive back then. Fast forward, I never thought that applied physics another course. I just couldn’t see myself as a brilliant scientist like Einstein, Faraday, etc. After much thought, I decided to stay— and now, I can say that I am happy with my decision.

Now, I love doing science. I appreciate its the universe. Through science, we create new technologi­es to solve our world's problems and uplift our way of life.

“I appreciate [science’s] complexity in decipherin­g the mysteries of the universe.”