Tequila is one of the biggest industries in México, it is a alcoholic beverage extracted from Agave Tequilana, with 558 places within states that dedicate fully on the Agave growth and production it is a major source of employment and economic gain for many. The chain of value is not only limited to economic aspects but also cultural, ethnic, social and environmental importance of several areas of the country The Agave is also a vital species for indigenous populations and is also used for medicine, fertilizers, food and its growth promotes development for the area as well as it helps eradicating poverty. (CIATEJ, 2016 ). Tequila is now exported to around 120 countries, and the production is about 300 liters/minute (El país, 2013).

The tourism industry in Mexico is also a major economic and development tool, a report from the National Chamber of Tequila Production states that, of the total products consumed in Mexico by foreigners 57% accounts solely for Tequila, as it is a major attraction for tourism. Also the same report stated that 900 thousand tons of Tequila are produced annually, employing 300 thousand people across the country (Millenio, 2017).

But like any major industry, it produces tons of waste, the two major contaminants that result from Tequila production are bagasse and vinasse by 2014, 240 thousand of bagasse ere produced which is equivalent to 20 days of residue generated in the metropolitan zone of Guadalajara city and up to this date its has doubled. The problem with bagasse is that it is a fibrous material, organic but when it is not managed correctly (which happens more often than not ) it produces toxic leachates that pollutes soil and water, changing their properties, causing bad odors and proliferation of damaging fauna such as mosquitos (Ramos, 2017).

To corroborate the issue and validate our project we have visited several Tequila producing industries including El tequileño, Camarena, Saro, Tequilera El Olvido and El triángulo, all of them produce Tequila in Jalisco, the state we live in. Jalisco has a lot of small Tequila producers that help to the economy of the towns and the county. They told us how bagasse was a problem for them, they had a lot of bagasse, taking up a lot of volume and it represented a contamination problem for the community, due to toxic leakages and mosquito proliferation, usually disposal is problematic and they have to pay to get rid of the huge quantities.

We’ve also learned how Tequila is produced. Visit our Human Practices Gallery for photos

Researchers have found 750,000 microplastic/km^2 in the garbage patch, marine life is plagued by them. Since plastic is not biodegraded it attracts toxins and heavy metals as it travel the seas.

It has also been found that 40% of the world’s oceans are “gyres” which are formed when plastic is accumulated in powerful rotating spirals (Monks, 2016).

Phocoena sinus (vaquita marina/marine cow) is an endemic mexican species, fishing their nutrition source (shrimp and some fish species) is one of the main causes for their almost extinction (only 30 are left). The Mexican government is planning on making massive efforts for saving the species however after putting it on a sanctuary and achieving the population increase, releasing the species into a contaminated sea which by 2050 is predicted to have more kg of plastic than fish, (WEF, 20016) and considering the large percentage of mammals with plastic components in the stomach (Center for Biological Diversity, n.d.) ….might seem a bit counterproductive.

Annually 95% of the value of plastic packaging material worth $80-120 billion is lost to the economy. This is especially alarming considering that plastic packaging, is in it’s majority, a single-use product, and becomes even more alarming when the disposal is not properly made, and ends up in large bodies of water, affecting the ecosystem, of course. A report from 2016 made by the World Economic Forum predicts that, if we continue this way, by 2050, the oceans will contain more weight in plastic than in fish (WEC, 2016).

90% of plastics are made from virgin fossil stocks, taking up a whole 6% of the global oil consumption. Also, whole 32% of plastic packaging escapes collection systems, having economic costs by reducing productivity of vital natural cycles and systems and clogging urban infrastructures. Plastic also contain a blend of chemicals that makes some researchers raise concerns about potential adverse effects on human health and, of course, the environment (WEC, 2016).

Unfortunately… not all countries have as a priority legalization of norms for plastic treatment, disposal, limiting the production as well as adopting and implementing norms for plastic disposal in the household. In reality, a some governments are dealing with other problematics, starvation, corruption, lack of education, unemployment; and other governments are just not interest enough to do so, as well as people might not be demang it enough for it to happen. For one reason or another it is not being done enough by all, as the World Economic Forum reports it in 2016, only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling and at least 8 million tons of plastics leak into the ocean annually (WEF, 2016).

Our work takes advantage on the composition of the bagasse to create a bioplastic that is of easy degradation and biocompatible, as mentioned it will take bagasse from the community to create bioplastic for the community, meaning that our supply will be for local and following a circular economy model in which a residue will serve us as primary matter without the carbon footprint of transport of other sources of glucose, and according to our business model, it will suffice for the necessities of local businesses.

Please visit our bussiness model page

The value of the proposal is not only taking up a residue and eliminating the fact of consuming another new production of glucose or sugars (whose transport and other activities produce carbon footprints) just to produce bioplastic, but the fact that our proposal can be adapted for different vegetal residues to achieve a bioplastic production in a community in order to take advantage of “useless” fibers and make a circular supply.

We know there is no single solution to the plastic problem but correct waste management and recycling, unfortunately, it is not done everywhere, and consequences are for everyone. Context is key in determining how long it will take for proper measures to be implemented in each country, and our problem prevails even with new wonderful ideas.

Proposals are often criticized for having a low impact at a large scale:

“Many innovations and improvement efforts show potential, but to date these have proved to be too fragmented and uncoordinated to have impact at scale.” (WEC, 2016).

But such a complex issue that englobes economic context, education and even a legal framework towards companies and infrastructure cannot be solved with only one “large scale proposal” or even several, it would be really hard to solve a multifactorial issue with few proposals given the different contexts, multiple proposals have to work together to ensure we do not reach this future. Meaning that we can implement solutions around our context, a million small steps that sum up to a single effort to reduce the plastic in our oceans.

It would be ideal if plastic production reduced, if our global economy followed a circular model, but in our country it is not done yet, there has been some few movements and actions for example, a law passed from 2010 that prohibited the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags but only in the biggest (and capital) city of Mexico. The effort is applauded however the law has some leakages…

1. Consideration on what they consider and classify as degradable (could be but at 100 years for example and the problem also revolves in the fact during that time what damage could that plastic be doing to the marine ecosystems) and the use of oxo-degradable plastics which have the same carbon footprint as regular plastics and are not environmentally friendly due to the fact that they just break apart into smaller pieces (America Retail, 2013) but in an official study made by the SEMARNAT (Governamental organization for the Environment and Natural Resources) and INE (National Ecology Institute) it was shown how HDPE with oxodegradable properties was actually contributing to the greenhouse gases emission by 24% more than non-oxodegradable production in Mexico(SEMARNAT, 2009). Lastly there is a chart that states that only 1.2% of recycled wastes are plastics (SEMARNAT, 2011).

2. What the plastic industry and associations contribute to the economy, the plastic industry in Mexico contributes to the 3% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). They generate jobs for at least 150,000 people…

(Expansión, 2010).

Enforce and strengthen legislation to stop marine litter (UN, 2017).- Invest in research to develop non-toxic material (UN, 2017).- PHA is biodegradable, it is used by bacteria as carbon storage, so producers can eat it under food deprivation conditions.

Circular economy (WEF, 2016) - Compatible with the model due to two main proposals: the first using a waste from Tequila production Agave bagasse as carbon source, and agronomy is another consideration, it is not the only Agave type in Mexico, other types are used for production of different beverages, our project can be easily adapted to fit them as well, having more national reach... (Please visit our Business Model, and Human practices)

Not using fossil fuels for the production of plastic (WEF, 2016): since the source of our bioplastic does not come from fossil fuels, the carbon footprint is drastically reduced.

It is important to know that our solution applies to our context but our production processes can be modified to suit necessities of other countries, e.g. sugar bagasse, or other residual vegetal sources, the important thing to notice is that our process is more environmentally friendly in several stages (please check our business model & environmental analysis).

We engaged and formed a collaboration with CIATEJ (Jalisco’s Center for Research and Assistance in Technology and Design) for the IGEM project.

We’ve made several visits to Tequila industries in Jalisco, to discuss our project and their main concerns within bagasse disposals, these include El tequileño, Camarena, Saro, Tequilera El Olvido, and El triángulo. These are all national producers within our state.

We’ve attended the COP8MOP13 from the UN Biodiversity Conferences in Cancún, México were we formed Youth Biotech and our cluster for the PHAgave iGEM Team Tec GDA.

Youth Biotech, an international association that focuses on science communication, science regulation and science development. Under the science development track we founded the PHAgave project and we have been carrying out our public engagement activities through this platform since then.

Please visit our Team History and Human practices Gallery

We’ve hosted Science Communication events such as #SynbioLIVE in collaboration with ISGP’s The Forum and supported by Cornell Alliance for Science, which was an all live-online event for the general public which discussed synthetic biology as a technology, applications and applications/potential, all from a fact-science based approach with experts from Princeton University (such as Dr Michael Hetch), Imperial College (Dr Richard Kitney) and a discussion panel at ITESM, which included experts from CIATEJ (Jalisco’s Center for Research and Assistance in Technology and Design), AMEXBIO (The Mexican Biosafety Association) and Juan Enriquez Cabot participating via Google Hangouts.

We’ve also participated in Tecno X, a community and competition formed to aboard technologically approached solutions to Latin American communities, where we presented the importance of Science Communication and arranged a dynamic activity to exemplify what misconceptions and misleading information can do to the perception on a technology.

We’ve also gave a Science Communication and Critical Thinking after taking MOC from Cornell Alliance for Science in Brújula, a local event held for different workshops for Universities’ communities.

In Campus Party, a technology based event in Guadalajara, Jalisco, we gave a conference on the Ghosts of Biotechnology, how the context has changed from its existence to the current times and public perceptions as well as how we can clear misconceptions and push as a community biotechnological solutions to environmental and modern-day problems.

In collaboration with other mexican iGEM teams we’ve created an Elementary School Science Practices Manual with non-harmful experiments for kids in public Elementary Schools in Mexico, this to promote interest in science development and expose more children to the world of research and science from an early stage.

Please visit our Team History and Human practices Gallery

We’ve formed an international community known as Youth Biotech to promote Science Communication, Development and participation from Scientific Community for Regulatory Frameworks. As well as to to unite as a Scientific Community to promote accurate Science Communication, projects that can solve problematics in our different contexts and promote the idea and participation of scientist to participate more in regulation.

We’ve also created a business model with different elements to suit our context, we’ve designed a vector capable of improving bioplastic production and eliminating the issue that bioplastic production in non-GM bacteria such as Pseudomonas putida KT2440 had limitations regarding how they needed nitrogen to grow but only produced bioplastic PHA under nitrogen deprivation, meaning less growth, efficiency and more expensive measures needed to be taken to achieve an effective and optimal bioplastic production.