Meet Lucas Tadao: 14-year-old Brazilian student who turned cassava peels into biodegradable trays that could help replace Styrofoam and reduce plastic pollution

Lucas Tadao Sugahara Wernick, a 14-year-old student from Curitiba, Brazil, developed biodegradable food trays from cassava peels and araucaria tree residues.

The trays are designed to replace Styrofoam packaging, which can persist in the environment for hundreds of years.

The production process involves mixing dried cassava peels, araucaria residues, water, and cassava starch, then heating and pressing the mixture into molds.

The project was created as a school science project and has been showcased at Brazilian science fairs.