Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) emerged as a promising material with similar physical properties as petroleum based plastic and it is biodegradable. Several microorganisms synthesize and accumulate this material under specific conditions. A strain of Bacillus megaterium (BM2) was used to produce PHA by using wasted rice, potato, fruit, cheese whey, molasses and frying oil. Since molasses, hydrolyzed rice media and frying oil produced higher yield compared to the other wasted materials so they were further optimized at various concentrations. The highest PHA yield obtained (57.33% and 53.92%) by cell mass with hydrolyzed wasted rice media and 2% molasses in Nutrient broth medium respectively whereas 56.89% PHA yield was obtained with wasted frying oil supplemented medium and wasted potato medium as well.

Keywords: bioplastic, biodegradable, food waste, microbes, PHA, wasted frying oil.

We acknowledge Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan (HEC) for funding this study under the NRPU project number 20-9335/R&D/NRPU/HEC/2018.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.