Jing Yi is proud of her Runner-Up achievement in the competition.

A film sample made from banana peel polysaccharides extracted using ultrasound-assisted extraction and enriched with Chlorella vulgaris.

TAR UMT student Chang Jing Yi is the brains behind the discovery of a way to transform banana peels into edible food packaging. Her innovativeness earned her the Runner-Up award in the AOAC International Southeast Asia Section Student Awards 2026 Edition on 14 September 2026. Pursuing her Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Food Science programme, she explored how banana peel could be transformed into an edible film with added health-related benefits.

Her project, titled ‘Valorising Banana Peel into Bioactive Edible Film through Chlorella vulgaris Incorporation’, was completed under the guidance of Assoc Prof Ts Dr Tang Pei Ling, Programme Leader of the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FOAS). The study used banana peel as the main material and incorporated Chlorella vulgaris, a type of microalgae, to enhance the film’s antioxidant and prebiotic potential. The research aimed to reduce food waste and explore alternatives to conventional plastic packaging.

Explaining the purpose of her research, Jing Yi said, “My main aim was to explore a way to reduce food waste and dependence on conventional plastic packaging while adding antioxidant and prebiotic functions to the film.”

Her study also compared different methods of extracting useful materials from banana peel. Although ultrasound-assisted extraction produced more of the desired material, it did not necessarily result in a stronger or better-quality film. This taught her the importance of considering both the quantity of material obtained and the quality of the final product.

A former student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Connaught and a recipient of TAR UMT’s Student Loan Fund, Jing Yi’s achievement gives her the confidence of how research into everyday food waste can open up possibilities for more sustainable materials.