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Mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms of Novatein thermoplastic protein and blends with core–shell particles (CSPs) have been examined. Novatein is brittle with low impact strength and energy‐to‐break. Epoxy‐modified CSPs increase notched and unnotched impact strength, tensile strain‐at‐break, and energy‐to‐break, while tensile strength and modulus decrease as CSP content increases. Tg increases slightly with increasing CSP content attributed to physical crosslinking. Changes to mechanical properties are related to the critical matrix ligament thickness and rate of loading. Novatein control samples display brittle fracture characterized by large‐scale crazing. At high CSP content a large plastic zone and a slow crack propagation zone in unnotched and tensile samples are observed suggesting increased energy absorption. Notched impact samples reach critical craze stresses easily regardless of CSP content reducing impact strength. It is concluded that the impact strength of thermoplastic protein can be modified in a similar manner to traditional thermoplastics.

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Industrial processing of bovine hides into leather results in many unusable hide off-cuttings, shavings and trimmings. This waste raw material is under-utilised and presents a waste valorisation opportunity to derive a high-value product such as collagen. Collagen is a highly sought-after protein which consists of three polypeptide chains, comprising 30% of the mammalian body’s protein, being the main component of skin, connective tissue and cartilage. The demand for collagen is rising at approximately 20% annually and global collagen-based biomaterials market is predicted to reach US$5 billion by 2025. This chapter presents a waste valorisation opportunity to extract collagen from waste bovine hide off-cuttings. Further, it discusses collagen extraction method optimization and methods used to investigate physicochemical properties of collagen are reviewed.