Development of Biodegradable Pots from Sugarcane Waste for Sustainable Agriculture

Author(s)

Anitha R , Sugumaran MP , Sassikumar D , Nageswari R , Douressamy S , Satheeshkumar N , Krishnaveni A ,

Download Full PDF Pages: 13-30 | Views: 25 | Downloads: 7 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23426415

Volume 10 - August 2026 (08)

Abstract

The increasing environmental concerns surrounding plastic waste in agriculture have highlighted the need for sustainable alternatives. The development of biodegradable pots from sugarcane waste faces challenges such as ensuring sufficient durability and strength for plant growth, while also maintaining cost-effectiveness in production. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate biodegradable pots made from sugarcane waste, focusing on their strength, biodegradability, and potential to replace plastic alternatives in sustainable agriculture. This study explores the development of biodegradable pots from sugarcane waste as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional plastic pots in sustainable agriculture. Sugarcane waste, including leaves and tops, is collected, dried, chopped, and blended into a paste, which serves as the base material. To enhance the paste's strength and biodegradability, organic materials like corn flour, powdered bagasse, coir waste, and sawdust are added. The paste is then moulded into pot shapes using disposable tumblers, followed by drying. Testing confirms that the biodegradable pots retain water for up to 24 hours without significant degradation and do not release harmful substances. Further collaboration with Machine Designers enabled the large-scale production of these pots, making them commercially viable. This approach promotes sustainable agriculture by reducing plastic waste and utilizing agricultural by-products. The result shows that the GCMS analysis of fresh sugarcane leaf reveals a complex chemical composition, with significant peaks identifying fatty acids such as 9-Hexadecenoic acid, cis-13-Eicosenoic acid, and cis-11-Eicosenoic acid.  The future scope for the development of biodegradable pots from sugarcane waste includes exploring advanced production techniques to improve scalability and efficiency, as well as expanding the use of these pots in other agricultural sectors. 

Keywords

Biodegradable Pots, Sugarcane Waste, Degradable Cups, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Gc-Ms), Organic Materials, Agriculture.

References

Aguilar-Rivera, N., 2024. Challenges and Future Perspectives in Agriculture Waste Valorization: Sugarcane Trash as a Case Study. In Transforming Agriculture Residues for Sustainable Development: From Waste to Wealth (pp. 373-392). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Anirudh, M.K., Lal, A.N., Harikrishnan, M.P., Jose, J., Thasim, J., Warrier, A.S., Venkatesh, R., Vaddevolu, U.B.P. and Kothakota, A., 2024. Sustainable seedling pots: Development and characterisation of banana waste and natural fibre-reinforced composites for horticultural applications. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 270, p.132070.

Asava, S., Sharma, D., Parab, C., Nema, A., Donzo, O.L., Kumar, A. and Yadav, K.D., 2025. Exploring Sustainable Waste Solutions: Evaluating Mixing Ratios in Agitated Pile Composting with Sugarcane Agro-Industrial Waste. Pollution, 11(1), pp.117-133.

Aslam, R., Zhao, J., Chen, J., Wang, Q., Verma, C., Alfantazi, A., Sun, Y. and Yan, Z., 2025.   Adsorption and Corrosion Inhibition Evaluation of Agro-Industrial Waste-Derived Sustainable Carbon Dots for Corrosion Protection of Q235 Steel in 5% HCl. Langmuir.

Babla, M., Katwal, U., Yong, M.T., Jahandari, S., Rahme, M., Chen, Z.H. and Tao, Z., 2022. Value-added products as soil conditioners for sustainable agriculture. Resources, conservation and recycling, 178, p.106079.

Birania, S., Kumar, S., Kumar, N., Attkan, A.K., Panghal, A., Rohilla, P. and Kumar, R., 2022. Advances in development of biodegradable food packaging material from agricultural and agro‐industry waste. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 45(1), p. e13930.

Chandrasekaran Senthil kumar &   Rajasekaran Vijay Anand , 26 March 2024, Security in IOT-Enabled Smart Agriculture Systems, Communication Technologies and Security Challenges in IoT, pp 279–300.

Chyerochana, N., Huynh, Q.T., Jaitham, U., Phitsuwan, P., Aryusuk, K., Hongsibsong, S., Chen, K.F. and Chang, K.L., 2025. Sustainable Production of High-Performance Bioplastics from Agricultural and Industrial Biomass Waste by Integrating Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) Pretreatment and Acetylation Processes. ACS Omega.

Deshwal, G.K., Alam, T., Panjagari, N.R. and Bhardwaj, A., 2021. Utilization of cereal crop residues, cereal milling, sugarcane and dairy processing by-products for sustainable packaging solutions. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 29, pp.2046-2061.

Dubey, S., Sharma, K., Raikwar, B. and Mishra, S., 2025. Bioplastics for Combating Global Issues of Environmental Pollution. In Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Sustainable Production and Biotechnological Applications II: Agriculture, Industry, and Environment (pp. 13-39). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Elguera, N.Y.M., Zorrilla, D.L.R., Sucari, J.R.H., Chavez, H.J.S., Banda, A.A.P., Vento, I.M.D. and Pacheco, H.G.J., 2025. Black soldier frass valorization into low-cost residual biofertilizer conversion process and its effectiveness in foliar and soil applications. Bioresource Technology Reports, p.102098.

Fuentes, R.A., Berthe, J.A., Barbosa, S.E. and Castillo, L.A., 2021. Development of biodegradable pots from different agroindustrial wastes and byproducts. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 30, p. e00338.

Hossam, Y. and Fahim, I.S., 2023. Towards a circular economy: fabrication and characterization of biodegradable plates from sugarcane waste. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, p.1220324.

Harahap, H., Nasution, H., Manurung, R., Yustira, A. and Rashid, A.A., 2025. Physical Characteristics of Biodegradable Pots from Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) and Sawdust Waste as Planting Media. Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, p.101193.

Iqbal, D.N., Tariq, Z., Philips, B., Sadiqa, A., Ahmad, M., Al-Ahmary, K.M., Ali, I. and Ahmed, M., 2024. Nanocellulose/wood ash-reinforced starch–chitosan hydrogel composites for soil conditioning and their impact on pea plant growth. RSC advances, 14(13), pp.8652-8664.

Iriany, A., Chanan, M., Hasanah, F. and Hariyanti, N.Y., 2022, February. Biodegradable Pot (Biopot) Made from Water Hyacinth and Banana Pseudostem as Polybag Substitution for Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao L.) Nursery. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 985, No. 1, p. 012005). IOP Publishing.

Johnson Jeyaraj, N. and Sankararajan, V., 2025. Sustainable utilization of solid waste byproducts in agricultural amendments as soil conditioner: A state-of-the-art review. International Review of Applied Sciences and Engineering

Kapoor, R.T. and Rafatullah, M., 2025. Biochar-based smart fertilizers for sustainable agriculture and environment health. In Biochar Ecotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment (pp. 561-585). Elsevier.

Madusanka, C., Udayanga, D. and Manamgoda, D.S., 2025. Sustainable Bioeconomy Approaches to Edible Mushroom Cultivation in Sri Lanka: Environmental and Economic Benefits. In Young Scientist Forum (YSF) National Science and Technology Commission Sri Lanka (p. 237).

Monika, M., Divyavarsini, V. and Suganthan, C., 2024. Role of South Indian Pongal festival in developing environmental sustainability. Indian Journal of Multilingual Research and Development, 5(1), pp.1-10.

Mousavi, A., Ghasemi-Nejad-Raeini, M., Taki, M. and Elhami, B., 2025. Energy and Environmental Analysis of Different Methods for Using Bagasse from Sugarcane by Life Cycle Assessment Approach. Sugar Tech, pp.1-15.

Naz, n., Hussain, h. and Saeed, t., 2025. municipal solid waste enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus to handle heavy metals in agricultural soil Nida gul, 1 nazish huma khan. Exploring Potential Sustainable Agriculture Strategies, p.247.

Piroonpan, T., Haema, K., Hiangrat, K., Sriroth, K. and Pasanphan, W., 2024. Sugarcane bagasse cellulose-PAA micro-composite super-water absorbent for sandy soil amendment: Exploring a complete set of studies from one-pot electron beam processing to pot-testing. Industrial Crops and Products, 221, p.119219.

Rilyanti, M., Ningrum, A.D.W., Ilim, I., Suharso, S., Mulyono, M., Ayoub, M. and Simanjuntak, W., 2025. Green Synthesis of Hierarchical H-ZSM-5 from Sugarcane Bagasse Silica and Application as Catalyst for Conversion of Cellulose into Glucose. Journal of Multidisciplinary Applied Natural Science, 5(1), pp.305-319.

Sadananda Lingayya, Sathyendra Bhat Jodumutt, Sanjay Rangrao Pawar, Anoop Vylala & Senthilkumar Chandrasekaran, Dynamic task offloading for resource allocation and privacy-preserving framework in Kubeedge-based edge computing using machine learning, Cluster Computing. (2024).

Salimi, M., El Idrissi, A., Channab, B.E., Essamlali, Y., Firouzabadi, A.G., Beygi, M., Zahouily, M. and Motamedi, E., 2024. Cellulose-based controlled release fertilizers for sustainable agriculture: recent trends and future perspectives. Cellulose, pp.1-48.

Sharma, M.K., Diwan, A., Sardana, S., Yadav, N., Gupta, T. and Kumawat, M.K., 2025. Isolation and characterization of cellulose derived from prominent agricultural waste (Sugarcane bagasse) and its utilization in various biomedical field. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Research, 13(1), pp.136-146.

Singh, O., Singh, V.K., Baskar, S., Shahi, U.P., Shivangi and Gill, A.A.S., 2024. Biodegradable Green Materials for Sustainable Agriculture. In Encyclopedia of Green Materials (pp. 1-11). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Skrzypczak, D., Izydorczyk, G., Taf, R., Moustakas, K. and Chojnacka, K., 2023. Cellulose-based fertilizers for sustainable agriculture: Effective methods for increasing crop yield and soil health. Industrial Crops and Products, 205, p.117500.

Stanley, J., Culliton, D., Jovani-Sancho, A.J. and Neves, A.C., 2025. The journey of plastics: historical development, environmental challenges, and the emergence of bioplastics for single-use products. Eng, 6(1), p.17.

Tang, Y., He, Y., Tan, J., Wang, T. and Cui, X., 2025. Green fabrication of glueless biocomposites with bagasse and intrinsic lignin to prepare high-conductive monolithic biochar. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 305, p.141334.

Wichaphian, A., Kamngoen, A., Pathom-Aree, W., Maneechote, W., Khuendee, T., Chromkaew, Y., Cheirsilp, B., Shyu, D.J. and Srinuanpan, S., 2025. Integrating Microalgal Chlorella Biomass and Biorefinery Residues into Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production: Insights from Lettuce Cultivation. Foods, 14(5), p.808.

Cite this Article: