It is not very often an 11-year-old has interest in helping the environment as well as using science to do so.
Moorestown’s Maya Butani is an exception. She uses science to test an idea to make a more eco-friendly plastic with food for regional science fairs.
Maya, a sixth grader at the Upper Elementary School, won first place at the Coriell Institute Science Fair and Delaware Valley Science Fair for her project entitled “Is it Possible to Create Plastic from Food?” in the category of chemistry for sixth to eighth graders. From her win, she was nominated to got to the Broadcom MASTERS, the premier science and engineering competition for middle school students.
“I like that math and science are so connected to the real world and used every day. Science is everywhere, and once you learn one thing, you find there is so much more to learn about,” Maya said.
At the UES, as well as the middle school and high school, students were invited to participate in the Coriell Institute Science Fair at the Camden County College. Maya, a lover of science and math, was interested in participating.
Inspired by her time on the robotics team, the JaberBlockies, Maya wanted to do something to help the environment. She started to search the Internet for ideas, when on the side of her screen, she saw something about creating plastics from food we eat every day as a more eco-friendly plastic over other items such as crude oil and petroleum by-products.
She got to work, doing research to see if it were possible to create plastic from three types of food — canned beans, potatoes and plantains. Her hypothesis was the potatoes and plantains would work, but not the canned beans. She felt the canned beans, with starch that was already processed, would not be able to gelatinize.
Maya tested her theory by combining the blended foods with acetic acid, water and food dye and heating the mixture. She let each cool for a few days and found all of them were made into plastic.
Maya worked all by herself on the project, coming up with it, implementing it and even teaching her parents a thing or two.
“It was 100 percent her project. We didn’t help her at all. We were extremely proud of her. She taught myself and my husband about plastics and the energy needed to make them, as well as recycling,” her mother Savita said.
Maya said she was a bit nervous going into the Coriell Institute Science Fair on March 19, but mostly excited as she really enjoyed what she worked on and talking about it. Maya had a poster board, her plastics and molecular models for her presentation. Throughout the day, she spoke to multiple judges on her project. All of her hard work paid off as she received first place in the chemistry category as well as the American Chemical Society award from sixth to eighth grade, which allows her to move on to the regional science fair.
“I was really happy because I didn’t know I would get to move on,” Maya said.
Before the Delaware Valley Science Fair, Maya improved her poster board and added new information to her presentation, hoping to do just as well as last time. Again, Maya was nervous and a little more intimidated this time due to the higher level of projects, but was still excited to present her project.
“There were a lot more judges (at the Delaware Valley Science Fair) … I was a little intimidated, but I told myself, I made it this far and if I keep doing what I was doing before I’ll be fine,” Maya said.
After the fair, Maya found she was the first-place winner for chemistry again. She also received special awards, which were the Jack Mixit Award of $100 for ability and creativity in STEM research, the Future Scientist Award from the Eastern Regional Research Center for the USDA, the Quaker Chemical Company Special Award for $300, and she was nominated to the Broadcom MASTERS national middle school competition.
“I was again really overjoyed and excited … I am going to keep going,” Maya said.
“We are really so proud of her. It is just amazing getting first over all of the sixth to eighth graders in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware,” Savita said.
The Broadcom MASTERS competition deadline is June 15, so Maya plans to improve her project until then by trying to make a plastic bag, and will find out if she is a finalist in September.
