| Summary: | Biobased plastics or bioplastics are made from renewable resources, such as corn, potatoes, soy, sugarcane, yam, wheat, and vegetable oil. With the price of oil rising and scarce resources of petroleum, tremendous efforts are being put by researchers to explore a proper and proven alternative to petroleum-based plastics. In this project, extraction of starch from chosen tubers with high content of starch namely potato and yam have been used as raw materials for bioplastics. The chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the products were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), tensile strength tester and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The FTIR spectra of the product displayed the presence of O-H, C-H, C=O and C-O absorption peaks, which indicate the formation of bioplastic has already occured. The tensile strength obtained for potato and yam starch-based bioplastic were 0.6 MPa and 1.9 MPa, respectively. The results gained from TGA showed that 50% weight loss was occurred at 250°C for potato and 310°C for yam-based plastic. The highly biodegradability of plastic was proven using soil burial test, which observed through percentage of soil biodegradation for potato and yam-based bioplastic in 1 week duration were 43% and 26%, respectively. These bio-based plastics have exhibited good thermal and mechanical properties with high biodegradability that makes them a suitable alternative for the existing conventional plastics. © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.
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