Plasticizers are the binding substances used to increase the elasticity of materials. In this research work, bioplastic is extracted from banana peels using various plasticizers such as, glycerol, urea, distilled water and glucose. The prepared bioplastics were characterized by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis which showed that the peak at 3355 cm-1 indicate the H-bonding formation between N-H urea and starch. The physicochemical properties such as water absorption test, soil decomposition and load test of synthesized bioplastics were analyzed at ambient temperature. The water uptake analysis showed that bioplastic absorbs water for up to 4 days without being decay. The load test showed that urea plasticized bioplastic has a high tensile strength of 2.3 KPa. The result revealed that the bioplastic with glucose as a plasticizer showed the effective result in water uptake and soil decomposition test whereas the urea plasticized bioplastic showed relatively good tensile strength.

Starch-based bioplastics are prepared from the waste of food materials and are widely used as the short-lived biodegradable plastic for household and food packaging applications. In this work, glycerol plasticized starch (extracted from potato peels)bioplastics blended with Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) in various compositions (wt.-%) were prepared, and characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and their physicochemical properties such as water absorption, biodegradable properties, and acid-base resistance were investigated. The FTIR spectra of starch-based bioplastics blended with PVA of the peak at 2924 cm-1 portrayed good compatibility between starch bioplastics and PVA. The water absorption test showed that the increase in starch proportion in starch/PVA blend increases water absorption capacity. The higher weight ratio of starch in starch/ PVA blend bioplastics degraded more rapidly than other bioplastics. Furthermore, the bioplastics of higher starch content resist acid and base for 45 and 42 hours respectively without being dissolved.