---
title: "Scientists Make Fake, Biodegradable Plastic From Cactus Juice"
description: "Engineer Sandra Pascoe Ortiz has created a new plastic made from cactus juice that is biodegradable. Next up, biodegradable cutlery."
date: "2019-06-11"
modified: "2019-06-20"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/biodegradable-plastic-cactus-juice"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "environment"
  - "materials"
  - "plastic"
  - "pollution"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Make Fake, Biodegradable Plastic From Cactus Juice

![An engineer found a way to turn juiced cactus leaves into a feasible substitute for plastic, and she wants to make biodegradable cutlery.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/biodegradable-plastic-cactus-juice.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Paul Brennan/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Reduce

Engineers figured out a way to cut down on the amount of [single-use plastics](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/eu-vote-ban-single-use-plastics>) clogging our landfills and polluting the oceans — replacing them with a material made from prickly pear cactus.

The new plastic alternative, mostly comprised of juiced cactus leaves, rapidly biodegrades and doesn't require crude oil like traditional plastics do, [according to *BBC News*](<https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-48497933/how-to-make-biodegradable-plastic-from-cactus-juice>) — a potentially less harmful way to package food and other goods.

## Reuse

The new alternative plastics start to break down after sitting in the soil for a month. In water, they break down in a matter of days, the *BBC* reports.

"It's a non-toxic product," Sandra Pascoe Ortiz, the University of the Valley of Atemajac engineer who developed the material, told the *BBC*. "All the materials we use can be ingested both by humans or animals. And they wouldn't cause any harm."

That means even if the fake plastics make their way into the ocean, they'll either feed the fishes or dissolve instead of hurting wildlife.

## Recycle

Right now, the manufacturing process is largely limited to Ortiz's lab, where she spends ten days making a batch out of cactus juice and a blend of other renewable ingredients.

But Ortiz told the *BBC* she thinks the process could be sped up enough to compete with conventional plastic if her operation is scaled up and moved to an industrial facility.

**READ MORE:** [How to make biodegradable 'plastic' from cactus juice](<https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-48497933/how-to-make-biodegradable-plastic-from-cactus-juice>) \[*BBC News*\]

**More on plastic:** *[This New Plastic Can Be Recycled Repeatedly](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-recycled-plastic-forever>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)