Bioshell: sustainable pharmaceutical capsules from recycled fruit peels

Traditional pharmaceutical capsules are made from animal-derived gelatine and synthetically from hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). Both sources face sustainability issues, the animal-derived gelatine raises concerns related to animal welfare. Furthermore, both sources lead to environmental degradation because of intensive resource use and chemical processes. BioShell is an organic capsule that was developed from fruit peels to solve sustainability and animal welfare issues. Around 1.3 billion tonnes of food produced for human consumption worldwide is wasted. This led to significant environmental and economic issues. The improper disposal of food waste also can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites as the common food waste treatment. Recycling food waste can reduce waste production, especially in the food and beverage (F&B) production industry. The objective is to develop capsules used for pharmaceutical industries from fruit peels that come from the waste of F&B industries. The raw materials of fruit peels like oranges and apples are collected from the F&B industries. These fruit peels will be extracted by an enzymatic process to extract the pectin and proteins that can be converted into biopolymers and transformed into capsules called BioShell. The BioShell are an innovative capsule developed in Malaysia, that is produced from food waste and is useful for pharmaceutical industries. This capsule can reduce the food waste that needs to be treated by recycling it to produce useful products in the pharmaceutical industry.