By Andru Shively

In the heat of the summer, nothing is more refreshing than biting into a juicy slice of fresh watermelon. No July grill party or August picnic would be complete without the classic red and green fruit, and we can’t get our fill! Then again, maybe we can, when we consider the millions of melons that go unharvested each year. On its website, US bioplastics manufacturer AgroRenew says 2.5 bn pounds (1.13 bn kg) of watermelon crop waste is left in fields annually.

So, what’s to be done? Well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when life gives you watermelons, make plastic.

AgroRenew intends on doing just that, in an effort to reduce crop waste, virgin plastics production, and plastics pollution all in one fell swoop. With a new plant in Vincennes, Indiana, set to open in stages in 2025 and 2026, plans are to produce the equivalent of some 934,534 kg per day of 100% biodegradable plastic from watermelons and other crop waste collected from Indiana farms. At full capacity, the company claims it will be able to ship out some 300,000 tons (272,155 tonnes) per year of the biopolymer pellets. Ultimately, AgroRenew says, the biopolymers will become finished products such as plastic bags, hard plastics, straws, or single-use packaging, for example. Now that’s a one-in-a-melon idea!