Meet Dr. Sandra Pascoe Ortiz: The Woman Who Created Plastic From Cactus

Plastic is everywhere. It's in your phone case, your water bottle, your shoes, the packaging for basically everything you buy. We produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste every year, and most of it doesn't biodegrade. It just sits in landfills or oceans for hundreds of years, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces but never really disappearing.

But what if plastic could break down in a month? What if it were made from plants instead of petroleum? What if it were safe enough that sea creatures could eat it without getting sick?

Enter Dr. Sandra Pascoe Ortiz, a Mexican chemical engineer who looked at the prickly pear cactus that grows abundantly in her country and saw the solution to one of the world's biggest environmental problems. She figured out how to turn cactus juice into biodegradable plastic that decomposes in weeks, requires no crude oil to produce, and is completely non-toxic. Oh, and it's edible.

Let's talk about how she did it, why it matters, and whether this could actually replace the plastic we use today.

The Scientist Behind the Innovation

Sandra Pascoe Ortiz is a research professor at the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac in Zapopan, Mexico. She's been there for over 20 years, working on sustainable development and innovation projects. Her background includes degrees in chemical engineering and biotechnology from the University of Guadalajara, and she's currently completing her doctorate in biosystematics, ecology, and management of natural and agricultural resources.

From a young age, Ortiz was interested in nature and environmental issues. When she became a scientist, she focused specifically on sustainable innovation, driven by a desire to reverse the environmental damage caused by technological development. As she puts it, we need to use that same development to improve our quality of life and that of future generations.

The cactus plastic project started in 2013 when some of her industrial engineering students came to her with a class project idea: using the prickly pear cactus as a base for biodegradable plastic. They'd found publications about making biodegradable plastics from various plant materials, and the nopal cactus seemed promising because of its unique chemical characteristics.

The students worked on it for a semester and then abandoned the project. But Ortiz told herself, "This can be done." She continued the research on her own and with other students, working in her lab with limited resources and little support from the international scientific community.

The Breakthrough: Why Cactus?

The key insight was recognizing that the prickly pear cactus contains the same basic building blocks needed to make plastic.

Ortiz discovered that the cactus is composed of sugars and gums that naturally form biopolymer substances. These biopolymers are essentially the same kind of molecules that make up plastic, just derived from plants instead of petroleum.

Specifically, the nopal cactus juice contains monosaccharides and polysaccharides (simple and complex sugars), pectin (a natural thickening agent), and organic acids. These compounds give the juice its characteristic thick, viscous consistency. That viscosity is crucial because it means the liquid can be spread out, dried, and turned into a solid material with plastic-like properties.

Traditional plastic is made from polymers derived from crude oil through chemical processes that require high heat and pressure. Ortiz's method skips all of that by using naturally occurring polymers from the cactus, then enhancing them with other natural substances to give the material the properties needed to function like petroleum-based plastic.

How It's Made: From Cactus to Plastic

The process Ortiz developed is surprisingly straightforward, though perfecting it took years of experimentation.

Step 1: Harvest the cactus. She initially used Opuntia ficus-indica, the most common edible cactus variety in Mexican cuisine, but eventually switched to Opuntia megacantha, which has better properties for plastic production. The leaves (called pads or nopales) are cut from the plant. Importantly, only a few leaves are taken from each plant, allowing it to regenerate rather than having to be replanted from seed. This makes it a truly renewable resource.

Step 2: Extract the juice. The cactus pads are peeled and put through a juicer to extract the liquid. The fiber is removed through decanting, leaving just the juice rich in sugars, gums, and pectin.

Step 3: Mix with additives. The juice is mixed with glycerine (to add flexibility), natural proteins, natural waxes, and non-toxic colorants. All of these additives are natural and safe.

Step 4: Dry and laminate. The mixture is poured onto a flat surface or hot plate and left to dry. As it dries, it forms thin, flexible sheets that look and feel remarkably similar to conventional plastic.

The entire process currently takes about 10 days from start to finish in her lab. Ortiz believes this could be significantly shortened with industrial equipment and processes.

The resulting material is malleable and can be made in various colors, thicknesses, and degrees of flexibility. It can be shaped into bags, containers, cutlery, packaging films, and potentially toys and other plastic products.

The Advantages: Why This Could Change Everything

Ortiz's cactus plastic has several massive advantages over conventional petroleum-based plastic.

It's rapidly biodegradable. This is the big one. When placed in soil, the cactus plastic breaks down in about one to three months. In water, it degrades in roughly seven days. In a compost pile, it disappears even faster. Compare that to conventional plastic bags, which can take 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, or plastic bottles, which last about 450 years.

It's non-toxic and edible. The material is safe for both humans and animals to ingest. This is huge for ocean ecosystems, where marine life frequently mistakes plastic for food. If a sea turtle or fish eats a piece of cactus plastic, it won't harm them. They can digest it safely. This doesn't mean the plastic is meant to be eaten, but it means accidental ingestion isn't a death sentence.

It's carbon neutral. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. When the cactus plastic eventually biodegrades, it releases that same carbon back into the environment. The carbon emitted during degradation equals the carbon absorbed during growth, resulting in a net-zero carbon impact. Traditional plastic production, on the other hand, releases carbon that was locked underground in oil deposits for millions of years, adding to atmospheric CO2 levels.

No crude oil required. Traditional plastic production relies on petroleum extraction, which is environmentally destructive and contributes to climate change. Cactus plastic eliminates this dependency entirely. Every ton of cactus plastic produced is a ton of petroleum that doesn't need to be extracted from the ground.

It's renewable. The prickly pear cactus is incredibly hardy and grows naturally throughout Mexico and other arid regions. It requires minimal water, no pesticides, and very little care. When you harvest leaves, the plant regenerates them, so you're not depleting the resource. Compare this to corn-based bioplastics, which require fertilizer, massive amounts of water, and compete with food production for agricultural land.

It's abundant. There are approximately 300 species of nopal cactus native to Mexico alone. Ortiz is currently experimenting with different species to determine which ones have the best properties for plastic production. The raw material is literally growing wild across much of the country.

The Challenges: Why It's Not Everywhere Yet

If cactus plastic is so great, why aren't we all using it? Well, there are some significant hurdles to overcome.

It's still in the testing phase. While Ortiz has created functional prototypes in her lab, the material hasn't been tested at industrial scale. Questions remain about consistency, durability under different conditions, and whether the properties can be maintained when produced in large quantities.

Degradation testing is ongoing. Ortiz is collaborating with the University of Guadalajara's Center for Biological and Agricultural Sciences to determine exactly how the plastic breaks down chemically. They've done simple tests showing it disappears in water and compost, but they need to confirm that it truly disintegrates completely and doesn't leave harmful residues or microplastics behind.

Production is limited. Right now, everything is made in Ortiz's lab by hand. Scaling up to industrial production would require specialized equipment, factory space, and significant capital investment. The process currently takes 10 days, which would need to be shortened for commercial viability.

Lack of initial support. When Ortiz first started the research, she faced a lack of interest and support from the international scientific community. There was insufficient equipment, limited materials, and few fellow scientists willing to work on the project. It's only in recent years, especially after she won the first National Invention Award from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, that interest and support have increased.

Cost questions remain. It's unclear how the cost of cactus plastic would compare to conventional plastic at scale. Traditional plastic is cheap partly because the petroleum industry is massive and well-established. A new bioplastic would need to be cost-competitive to be widely adopted.

Durability concerns. The fact that the plastic breaks down so quickly is both an advantage and a potential limitation. You wouldn't want packaging that starts decomposing before you finish using it. Ortiz would need to fine-tune the formula for different applications, creating versions that are stable during use but rapidly degrade after disposal.

The Progress: Awards and Interest

Despite the challenges, Ortiz's work has gained significant recognition and momentum.

In 2019, she won the National Invention Award from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, the first such award given for this type of innovation. This brought national and international attention to her work.

She patented the invention in Mexico in 2014, specifically choosing to make the information publicly accessible. Her hope is that by sharing the discovery openly, it will generate more research and development in the field of green and sustainable alternatives to plastic. She registered the process with both the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property and received funding from the National Council of Science and Technology.

Her innovation is now listed on the WIPO GREEN database, an international platform for sustainable technologies, where people can contact her directly about the invention.

Several companies have expressed interest in bringing cactus plastic to market. While Ortiz hasn't publicly named these companies, she's mentioned that discussions are ongoing about moving from lab-scale production to industrial manufacturing.

Media coverage from outlets like Good Morning America, ABC News, and various environmental publications has raised awareness globally, putting pressure on both industry and government to support alternatives to conventional plastic.

What It Could Replace

Ortiz envisions cactus plastic being used for a wide range of single-use plastic products that currently contribute most to plastic pollution.

Plastic bags are the most obvious application. Her prototypes include thin, light green sheets tough enough to function as shopping bags. These would be perfect for grocery stores, retail, and other applications where the bag is used briefly and then discarded.

Food packaging could be revolutionized. Imagine packaging that's safe if accidentally ingested, breaks down completely in compost, and doesn't leach chemicals into food. The fact that it's edible even opens up possibilities for packaging that's designed to be consumed along with the product.

Disposable cutlery has been successfully produced in the lab. Forks, spoons, and knives made from cactus plastic could replace petroleum-based disposable utensils at restaurants, cafeterias, and events.

Containers for solid products, cosmetics, and other goods are another target. Small containers have been tested and work well.

Toys are a possibility, especially since the material is non-toxic and safe if children put it in their mouths.

Films and coatings for various products could also be made from the material.

The focus is primarily on single-use plastics, the type of plastic that's used once and immediately thrown away. These products don't need to last for years, so the rapid biodegradation of cactus plastic is actually ideal.

The Bigger Picture: A Growing Movement

Ortiz isn't alone in searching for alternatives to petroleum-based plastic. Around the world, scientists and entrepreneurs are developing bioplastics from various plant sources.

Researchers have made bioplastics from corn starch, though this requires significant water and fertilizer and competes with food production. Others have created materials from avocado pits, seaweed, mushroom mycelium, and agricultural waste.

What makes Ortiz's cactus plastic particularly promising is the combination of factors: the raw material is abundant in arid regions where other crops struggle, it requires minimal resources to grow, it doesn't compete with food production (nopal is already cultivated and eaten, so this creates a secondary use for the plant), and the final product is both functional and safe.

The timing is also right. Public awareness of plastic pollution has reached a tipping point. Images of ocean garbage patches, sea creatures harmed by plastic, and microplastics found in human bodies have created unprecedented demand for alternatives. Governments are beginning to ban single-use plastics. Companies are under pressure to reduce plastic packaging. The market for sustainable alternatives is bigger than ever.

Ortiz's Philosophy

Throughout her work, Ortiz has maintained a clear philosophy about science, innovation, and environmental responsibility.

"The world can be a better place if we do what we can with what we have to improve it," she told Good Morning America. "The environment is damaged, but there is a solution. Science is the best way to reverse the effects of climate change in conjunction with what each of us does to take care of our environment. Awareness of what we do with our waste and what we consume is important."

She's also realistic about the challenges. "I believe that it is never too late to start changing things," she said. "Every day there is a new opportunity to do things better, so if we each do what we have to do, there is another opportunity to reverse all the damage we have done to the planet."

When asked what advice she'd give her younger self, she reflected: "Nothing is easy, but your efforts are always worth it. Working hard on your dreams is the only way to make them come true. While any hard work bears its fruits, at the end of the day, the definition of success is to love what you do on a daily basis."

The Bottom Line

Sandra Pascoe Ortiz took a plant that grows wild in her country's deserts, a plant that Mexicans have been eating for thousands of years, and transformed it into a potential solution to one of the modern world's most pressing problems.

Her cactus plastic isn't perfect yet. It needs more testing, industrial scaling, cost analysis, and optimization for different uses. But it represents something important: proof that alternatives to petroleum-based plastic are possible, practical, and potentially superior in many ways.

The fact that a researcher working in a university lab with limited resources could create this innovation shows what's possible when we combine scientific knowledge with determination and environmental awareness. Ortiz didn't have massive funding or corporate backing when she started. She just had an idea, some students, and access to a plant that most people consider unremarkable.

Now her work has won national awards, attracted international attention, and sparked interest from companies looking to commercialize the technology. Whether cactus plastic specifically becomes the next big thing or whether it inspires other innovations in biodegradable materials, Ortiz has demonstrated that the solutions to our plastic problem are out there, growing in deserts and forests and fields, waiting for scientists brave enough to look for them.

And sometimes, the answer to a modern problem can be found in something as ancient and resilient as a cactus.

Sources

ABC News / Good Morning America. (2020). Cactus juice is the new...plastic? Female scientist discovers biodegradable plastic alternative. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/cactus-juice-newplastic-female-scientist-discovers-biodegradable-plastic/story?id=65830239

Wikipedia. (2024). Sandra Pascoe Ortiz. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Pascoe_Ortiz

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (2020). Women in Green: Fantastic plastic. Retrieved from https://www3.wipo.int/wipogreen/en/news/2020/news_0027.html

MaterialDistrict. (2019). Bioplastic made from cactus juice. Retrieved from https://materialdistrict.com/article/bioplastic-cactus-juice/

The Lab World Group. (2021). Mexican Scientist Develops New Biodegradable Plastic. Retrieved from https://www.thelabworldgroup.com/blog/mexican-scientist-develops-new-biodegradable-plastic/

Bioplastics News. (2021). Bioplastics Made From Cactus. Retrieved from https://bioplasticsnews.com/2018/06/13/bioplastics-cactus/