Calgary student engineering a plastic-free farming future

To improve crop yields, farmers across the world use plastic mulch films. But even modern plastic films and so-called biodegradable options contribute to microplastic pollution and have been found to release toxic and under-researched substances into soil.

One Calgary student set her mind on changing that.

Using materials such as orange and pineapple peels, Grade 9 student Gayatri Sakharkar created a biodegradable film with low toxicity and comparable effectiveness to conventional plastics. The idea sprouted from her family lineage in agriculture and her interest in reducing microplastics. "My dad's side of the family was in agriculture, and through that I was super inspired to research agriculture," she told LiveWire Calgary. "I've always been into sustainability, and I was looking at sustainable innovations and solutions. It began with just reducing microplastics in agriculture and I did a lot of research and a lot of experimentation to find an effective solution."

After hours of work, Sakharkar landed on her film, which she presented at the Calgary Youth Science Fair in April. As the fair wrapped, the teenager went home far from empty-handed, winning a gold medal, an agricultural challenge award, and Youth Can Innovate grand award.

Even though she made it look easy, Sakharkar said that earning those honours was a tough process behind the scenes. "I've learned so many things and not just related to science. Persistence is a really big thing," she said. "This year, especially, I had so, so many failures, it's hard to describe in words how many failures I had. One day, my grandpa sat me down once, and said, 'Remember, research is about re-searching, searching again and again, and that's a skill.'"

In her experience, the hard work behind the scenes has always led to a rewarding final product. "People often don't want to do a science fair because they think it's a lot of work, but in reality, a science fair is so fulfilling, and it's such an incredible experience, especially if you do something you love," she said. "Investigating something you love and finding that passion, it's so fulfilling to have a completed project and invent something."

Sakharkar said she expects to be doing well-researched scientific experiments throughout her life, let alone the rest of high school. "It's definitely my biggest passion," she said. For post-secondary, she's debating between a couple of scientific pathways. "I'm not sure if I want to become a chemical engineer, or stay in the academia and research side. Beyond that, I really want to do something for the environment. I'm super passionate about sustainability, so I'd like to do something related to chemistry benefiting the environment."

For now, Sakharkar is focused on next year's project, which will be her sixth time in a science fair. "For my next project, I'm looking at fisheries and how I could replace plastics in fisheries, but still figuring things out," she said. "We'll see how it goes."