Natalia Quetzalli Martínez, Génesis Ayón Loza and Samanta Guadalupe Carrasco Tovar They are three students from the José Vasconcelos Cooperation High School in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, who are raising the name of Mexico before the world. And it is that the adolescents recently won first place at the International Fair of Innovation and Invention in Romania, thanks to their shrimp bioplastic project.
It should be noted that it is not the only award that their project gives them, since they recently won the gold medal at the 2023 International Festival of Science and Technology, held in Tunis.
In order to participate in the world competitions, the students previously won the state and national Expociencia, for which they had the National Prize for Research, Science, Technology and Innovation. As a tutor, they have been accompanied at all times by their teacher Judith Rebeca González Munoz.
However, the road has not been easy, since they were about to not travel to Romania due to lack of financial resources. Thanks to her campaign through networks and in the territory, the young women soon received help in the days before the trip. Then the Mexicans became the only American team to compete against the 20 teams from Europe and Asia.
Shrimp bioplastic, an alternative to pollution
The shrimp bioplastic project arose as a high school assignment, where the youngsters observed that shrimp shell has similar properties to plastic, but that it does not pollute and is biodegradable. So, they thought that millions of tons of shrimp shells could replace plastic, whose degradation time can reach 1,000 years and which represents the greatest pollutant of the seas.
In this context, shrimp bioplastic represents an alternative to single-use plastic, which could represent the release of degradable, organic products that favor life cycles.
Rodrigo Osegueda Philosopher by training. Contemplate the soul and imagination of Mexico.