Observing Environmental Pollution, Thursina Students Secure Gold Medal in WSEEC 2024
News of notable achievements came again from the students of Thursina International Islamic Boarding School (IIBS), through the attainment of male student team (Muhammad Rafi Althaf Wiratara, Pasha Zaki Ilmany, and Abdul Adzim Yasin) who gained gold medals in the World Science, Environment, Engineering and Competition (WSEEC) event 2024 (06/06).
Organized by the Indonesian Young Scientist Association (IYSA) in collaboration with Food and Science Technology Department of IPB and the Faculty of Pharmacy, Pancasila University. The agenda was held in the third party, Pancasila University, Jakarta, on 13-16 May 2024.
In this prestigious event, the team, supervised by Ustaz Muhammad Zainur Rifai M.Pd raised one research entitled "Obstra" or Bioplastic Straws which are optimized by ZnO as a Hydrophobic Molecule to reduce plastic waste. Zaki revealed that the research was inspired from increasing environmental pollution for high use of plastic straws, causing serious potential problems in the future ahead.
"For this reason, it is necessary to promote the control of plastic straw waste," he explained. Some alternatives have been taken by various parties, such as stainless steel straws. However, this type is quite expensive, difficult to clean and heat conductor. There are also bamboo straws, which is eco-friendly and easy to be composted. On the other hand, if exposed to much water, it is highly potential for mold to grow.
Furthermore, there are glass straws, but dangerous if bitten or broken and may injure the user. Lastly, paper straws, claimed to be more environmentally friendly. Nevertheless, the recent surprising fact revealed they contain toxic ingredients. "To control this, we are trying to create bioplastic straws from edible film made from cow gelatin," he added.
The researcher added, Edible film is a biodegradable plastic coming from biological resources, which is naturally decomposted. The characteristics of edible film are flexible, light, transparent and edible. They admitted that several experiments had been executed for Obstra to use it as research object.
In the end, they hope OBSTRA might be a solution to reduce the use of plastic straws and the innovation developes gradually to obtain more efficient results. "Hopefully, more people and friends move together to overcome environmental pollution with brighter innovation," hoped Zaki. (qom/hel/lil)
Di akhir mereka juga berharap adanya OBSTRA dapat menjadi solusi untuk mengurangi penggunaan sedotan plastik. Mereka juga berharap inovasi ini tidak berhenti di sini, namun terus dikembangkan untuk mendapat hasil yang lebih optimal dan benar-benar efisien.
“Semoga nantinya teman-teman juga dapat termotivasi untuk bergerak bersama dalam mengatasi pencemaran lingkungan dengan inovasi yang lebih cemerlang,” tutupnya Zaki. (qom/hel/lil)