Prof. Misra was invited to present in the OMAFRA Research in Action Webinar series, on the topic of Alternatives to Plastics.

Her presentation was on the research advances and accomplishments for the project on "Biodegradable and Compostable Bale Wrap for Ontario Agriculture".

The project is led by Professors Manjusri Misra and Amar Mohanty, at the University of Guelph; in collaboration with Professor Mohini Sain of the University of Toronto and Dr. Mahendra Thimmanagari, a Bio-Products Specialist at Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

The project is funded by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance (previously the OMAFRA-U of G Partnership) - a collaboration between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph; and supported by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), Competitive Green Technologies (CGTech), Club Coffee and GreenNano Technologies (GNT).

The outcome of the project is the development of a successful material formulation for an opaque biodegradable bale wrap, combining residues from Ontario-grown crops, industrial waste materials and home compostable bioplastics. Tough, flexible, and stretchable, the biodegradable bale wrap film demonstrates comparable performance to a commercial product. The cost of the final product is comparable to the polyethylene films. The main difference is that after use, this film can be left in soil to biodegrade or go into compost, without leaching microplastic or harmful residues.

Over 90 participants included government representatives, researches and growers attended the webinar.