Beautiful … IPB Students Produce Soap from Banana Skin

Who does not know bananas? – the original fruit of a tropical country. In Indonesia, bananas are served in various products and become souvenirs typical of a region. Commonly, banana peel or skin is just thrown away. This has inspired a group of students of the Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Economics and Management, Bogor Agricultural University (FEM-IPB) to develop soap products made from the banana peel. The students, who are of the Student Creativity Program (PKM) of IPB, consist of: Roni Alfiansyah Ritonga, Hendry Indra Setiawan and Sri Rahayu Farida Putri.

This product is named SOBASI, an acronym of Soap Banana Skin (Banana Skin Soap). The ingredients are sun-oil, coconut oil, olive oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, Sodium Hydroxide and banana peel. This soap can be an alternative for people today. It is available in size 35 grams at an affordable price, Rp 6000.

Furthermore, Roni said that he wants to further develop this soap, SOBASI, from only transparent soap to an opaq soap. Opaq soap is one that has a non-transparent appearance.

Without so high goal, this group also hopes that this banana peel soap is not only marketed in stores, but it can also be distributed to hotels and spa spots. In this way, people can feel the benefits of soap as well as take care of the environment by reusing banana peel waste.               

Lots of advantages are offered form Sobasi. "This soap can naturally brighten the skin and prevent the growth of acne," said Roni, Chairman of PKM. Introduced with natural ingredients, namely banana peel, it is expected to be an alternative natural soap that is beneficial to the community, without worrying about the chemicals it contains. (Mtd)