Chicken centre culture (live and dressed) in Imphal
— recycling of wasted chicken feathers —

Prof N Irabanta Singh *

Chicken vendors at Nagamapal on 5th Feb 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

Introduction

Food habit refers to the way in which different people select, cook, serve and eat food that are available to them. In other words, food habits are disciplinary measures to eat a certain food or foods repeatedly every day. This usually coincides with diet and food disorder .

There has been a dramatic change in the food habit of the inhabitant of the Imphal city (young and middle aged group irrespective of sex) during the last 4/5 decades. The present writer was a student of DM college (present DM college of Science) (1965-1969).

He used to go to college by bicycle from his home which is 4 km away from the college towards the south eastern side. During the holidays, he and his friends used to roam around different places of Imphal city and suburbs by bicycle.

He could remember that there were very limited chicken centre (live) in the Imphal city, e.g. Khwairamband Bazar (Yen Yonpham) (Imphal West), Hapta Pangal (Yen Yonpham) (Imphal East), etc.

During 1968-69 academic session, his intimate friends and himself regularly enjoyed rice-fish meals from two hotels viz., (i) M/S Sharma Hotel located at the BT road and (ii) M/S Usha Hotel located at the Paona Bazar in Khwairamband bazar after getting their monthly merit scholarship awarded by the Education Department, Government of Manipur.

No chicken curry-rice item was available in the hotels in those days. But nowadays the food habit of the inhabitants of the Imphal city has been changed completely. They (especially the menfolk) are more habituated to the chicken-rice based food habit than the fish-rice meals.

At present, OK Hotel, situated near Imphal City traffic Police station, Thangal bazar, is of the most preferred chicken-rice hotels in the Khwairamband bazar. Moreover, chicken centres (live and dressed) are coming up like a mushroom growth at every market places of Imphal city.

In this article, the writer made an attempt for possible recycling of wasted chicken feathers for the manufacture of plastic cup, plates, etc.

Composition of feathers

Feathers are made up of principally by the tough and chemically stable protein, Keratin and can lend strength while reducing weight in the mixture of plastic chemically known as composites.

Methodology

The chicken feather fibres can be used as a Principal ingredient making up to 50% of the mass composite. As such, the plastic require less of the materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene that are derived from petroleum products. For detailed methodology one can follow “Microcrystalline keratin from feathers to composite products” (Schmidt, WF in Proc. Material Research Symposium, 2002)

Discussion

The idea of using wasted chicken feathers for the production of eco-friendly plastic is an innovative process. The best part is that this inexpensive source is available in plenty in Imphal city due to fast growing of Chicken Centre Culture (live and dressed). As compared to other biological sources like plant proteins and modified starch, keratin based plastic offer greater strength and are tear resistant.

Unlike most petroleum based thermoplastics, feathers based plastics doesn’t depend on any fossil fuels (Int. J. Phar. Sc. Res Rev, 27(2): 2014: 373-375). If wasted chicken feathers are used as composite materials, no polyethylene or polypropylene are needed. This bio-plastic can thus be used for making cups, plates, etc.

Justification and conclusion

Using wasted materials from poultry farming such as chicken feathers to make more environmentally friendly plastic is a good idea. So, using biomaterials whether it is for commodity products or even structural applications, it is worth for pursuing this intervention as recycling of wasted chicken feathers in the Imphal city.

Thus, the bioplastic made from wasted chicken feathers is harder and exhibiting good flexibility resulting in the increase in tensile strength.