Pinacase: A Handphone Pouch from the Fibers of Pineapple Leaves Made by IPB Students

Pineapples are one of the superior fruit commodities in Indonesia. Almost all regions in Indonesia are capable of producing pineapples and the central production areas are in Lampung, West Java, North Sumatera, Central Java, and Riau. So far  the use of the pineapple is only in parts of the fruit that are edible and can be consumed by humans. The other parts of the fruit are then thrown away without any further proccessing.

Not many people are aware that the fibers of the leaves of pineapples are strong enough to become a raw material for durable products. The presence of cellulose and lignin in the fibers can increase it’s strength of the fibers that it produces.

Seeing this potential, five Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) students tried to make use of the fibers of the pineapple leaves to create a pouch for handphones which would be durable and not easily broken. They call the product Pinacase. They are Muhammad Fahrur Rozaq, Satya Darwono, Wiwit Indriyani, Nurma Hapsari, and Selina Barokah.

“We chose handphones because everyone probably owns and uses a handphone and every they are contionusly improved and developed in production. We used the fibers of the pineapple leaves because it is a waste product of pineapple plantations and goes unused, and the fibers are also very strong,” says Fahrur, the Leader of Pinacase.

With the supervision of Prof Ono Suparno, S.TP,. M,.T.,Ph.D., a lecturer of the Department of Agroindustry of the Faculty of Agrotechnology (Fateta) IPB, Pinacase will be one of the Student Creativity Programs (PKM) from the Enterprenurship division year 2018.

According to Fahrur, the handphone pouch business from the fibers of pineapple leaves has the capability to become a business that can be possibly developed in the community. “We hope that this business will be able to help the economy of our peope, especially for the people of Subang as one of the areas for pineapple farming,” he says. (AVR)