Some Hokies are looking for new uses of turkey feathers.

Justin Barone, an associate professor of biological engineering, is currently trying to find a new approach to creating biodegradable plastics from products like poultry feathers.

“The main focus of my work is making plastic products from alternative sources.” Barone said, “Over 12 percent of everything that goes into landfills is plastic that will not ever be degraded.”

Barone is using products like poultry feathers because they are not only biodegradable, but if plastics were created from poultry feathers this would limit the nation’s use of petroleum based products, which could not only help the environment, but also the economy.

“We rely heavily on Petroleum-based products,” Barone said. “My research is economically and environmentally helpful because we’re putting out a product that is not dependent on petroleum-based products.”

Barone’s research is economically-friendly because these poultry feathers come from a waste stream, which means that they are quite easy to come by.

“We can really get these feathers from anywhere,” Barone said, “The feathers are a fairly clean, pure source. We then use these feathers with sodium-sulfites, which are used to change oxidation levels, we also use glycerol and we create these plastic products.”

As reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the problem of non-biodegradable waste piling of the nation’s landfills is a serious concern. Non-biodegradable products are dumped into the nation’s landfills every year, and these products will not be broken down for some hundreds of years.

“Most plastics that are dumped into landfills will not degrade for 100-200 years,” said Aziz Farahmand, a Mid-Atlantic Region representative from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “It is hugely important that Americans make an attempt to recycle.”

Barone is creating these biodegradable plastics using the same kind of technology and machinery that is used to create the average type of plastics that consumers are used to buying.

“We use normal equipment to create these biodegradable plastics,” Barone said, “You don’t want to create plastics in a special way, otherwise consumers will not show an interest.”

Barone maintains that his work is not only important for the benefit of the present environmental situation but also because if people continue to use petroleum-based products it could prove to be a serious problem in the future.

“We need to do things that are sustainable,” Barone said, “We are consuming these products at an exponential rate and at some point something has to give.”