Over the past few weeks, we’ve received valuable feedback from our faculty advisors and industry contacts. The biggest takeaway is that we’re now at a critical stage in our venture: it’s time to commit to a specific product and move forward with development and pilot testing.

Thanks to extensive market research and field visits, we’ve been able to make an informed decision on the most viable entry point for our bioplastic film. After considering several possible applications including shawarma food wraps, labo bags, and plastic film for flower bouquets we narrowed our focus by evaluating market size, feasibility, and environmental impact.

Key insights from this decision process:

Food wraps: This emerged as the most promising application. Thin parchment films used for wrapping food like shawarma, burgers, and pastries don’t require high tensile strength or complex structures, making them technically feasible for our early bioplastic prototypes.

Flower bouquets: We decided not to pursue this market for now due to its niche size and its high demands on visual presentation and premium finishing, areas that require more R&D before we can compete credibly.

Labo bags: Although popular, the local market already offers various compostable alternatives. Competing here wouldn’t allow us to bring unique value or divert significant new waste streams.

To validate this direction, we split up and visited food establishments across different segments including shawarma stands, burger joints, cafes, bakeries, and ice cream shops. We asked about current usage, pain points, and what they would value in an eco-friendly alternative.

Here’s what we learned:

• Key desirable attributes: oil absorption, heat resistance, branding or labeling, and sealability.

• Many businesses are cost-sensitive but several indicated they’d be willing to pay up to 15% more for compostable, locally sourced packaging, especially if it aligns with their sustainability goals.

• We’ve secured contact details for several interested businesses and will be sharing product samples with them once our prototype is ready. Their feedback will be crucial for refining our wrap before scaling production.

We’re excited to keep moving forward with a clear product focus and real-world partners who want to test and help shape our solution. Our next steps are to finalize material testing, develop functional prototypes, and pilot our wraps with local food vendors. Stay tuned as we can’t wait to share our progress and learnings as we continue to build a greener, locally sourced alternative to single-use plastic films!