Safety is very important to everyone, especially when it comes to packaging of food and non-food items. This
research aims to make hydrophobic paper from wax of taro leaves and chitin from crab shells. The physical properties
(color, odor, texture, tensile strength, thickness, density, solubility, liquid dropping) and chemical properties (ash content,
pH, moisture content) of the formulated hydrophobic paper were compared to the properties of commercial photographic
paper. Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) was also used to determine functional groups present in the paper. The
prepared hydrophobic paper is dirty white in color, has a pleasant odor, rough texture, can withstand mass of 92 g, about
1.45 mm thickness, and has a density of 0.071g/mL Liquids (like soy sauce, vinegar and water) cannot pass through
except cooking oil. It is insoluble in water, hexane and dilute NaOH but slightly soluble in HCl. Physical properties of the
hydrophobic paper was found better than photographic paper except for its dirty white color due to the pigment of leaves
that was present in wax from taro leaves and its rough texture. The chemical properties showed that the hydrophobic paper
has a longer life than that of commercial photographic paper because it has a lower moisture content and has a pH of 8.2
which means that it is basic, and basic papers has longer shelf life than acidic papers. FTIR result showed that the
hydrophobic paper has an alkane group.