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I would like you to read a pair of articles, and think about them in relation to eachother.
First is a recent study that estimates that...in theory up to 90 % of all plastic products and plastic consumption could be replaced by bioplastics. In theory. Of course, we're not even close, and won't be for a long time. But if you take the "long view", we know that at least in principle we can use bioplastics for a vast majority of the things we use plastics for.
How close are we? Enter a second article that claims that the demand for bioplastics should rise to 900,000 metric tons in 2013. The most important driver, according to the study, is an expected continuation of high prices for crude oil and natural gas.
Of course, nobody can predict the future, and there is always a "conservative" and an "optimistic" view.
California-based company Cereplast has revealed that it is developing breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics, and predicts that it could replace 50% or more of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins.
According to Frederic Scheer, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Cereplast, "Based on our own efforts, as well as recent commitments by major players in the algae field, we believe that algae has the potential to become one of the most important green feedstocks for biofuels, as well as bioplastics."
In one of its forms, it looks like tiny puffy white beads pressed together into a solid, hard shape. And normally, those tiny puffy white balls are made from petroleum.
But what if they weren't?
Gregory Glenn and Simon Hodson have developed a new technique for processing starch plastic that yields an end result much like polystyrene foam.
According to the article, the process works generally like this:
Metabolix, a bioscience company focused on developing sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, announced today that it has received a Grant from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). The award will be used by Metabolix to further enhance biobased, biodegradable resins suitable for blow molding operations.
Meanwhile, Sprint recently got recognition from the U.S. Department of energy for being a leader among telecommunications companies in environmentally-responsible initiatives, in part because of their bioplastic cell phone, the Reclaim.
In my opinion, it's great to see the government investing in a good cause. But will this cause any kind of political backlash, when so many different industries are all going to the government looking for money?
When you compost your PLA plastic products, you are working to create a closed "cradle to cradle" loop for the material:
This is a pretty long loop (and also inefficient, from an energy perspective).
One way to shorten this loop would be to recycle, as we do with regular plastics:
This is "mechanical recycling". The problem with this is, PLA doesn't recycle as nicely or easily as regular plastic. There are difficulties with getting a nice-looking, pure product.
So what can we do? LOOPLA (by Galactic) has a possible answer: chemical recycling.
The LOOPLA process can provide a major short-cut that increases the efficiency of the cradle-to-cradle PLA loop:
Although this process is still cutting-edge and in its experimental and testing phase, it promises to provide a real answer: it promises to be cost efficient, and provides a mechanism that will allow us to keep re-cycling the same feedstock around and around... each time producing PLA products that are exactly the same quality as products made from virgin PLA.
Plastics News has a great article about new efforts to create standards and specifications for "bio-based" food packaging.
The main point of this is to prevent "greenwashing" and all of the false claims out there by some manufacturers that claim to be "green" or "biodegradable" when they really are not. They talk about ideas for certification and standards for labeling packaging at different levels (gold, silver, etc).
Ideally, they say, they want to work toward a world where we have three dumpster options: recyclable, compostable, and other trash.
Midcromidas, Inc. has turned its green eye on wastewater, and it is seeing gold. The company has developed a strain of microbes that can convert the carbon in wastewater into PHA (polyhydroxylalkanoate), a high performance plastic. PHA biodegrades quickly in compost piles and landfills, but otherwise it behaves the same or better than conventional petroleum-based plastic. It resists water and odor permeation, and it holds up under high temperature and exposure to sun. As a sustainable alternative to petroleum as a plastics feedstock, wastewater could be setting the gold standard.
Using municipal wastewater virtually guarantees a steady supply of feedstock rich in carbon from human waste. Aside from the potential for long term price stability and potential for managing global warming through carbon sequestration, the many advantages of wastewater-to-bioplastics over petroleum include easing pressure on landfills, converting a municipal waste disposal liability into a marketable asset, reducing the amount of petroleum-based plastic in the waste stream, and virtually eliminating environmental disasters related to oil spills and accidents. Add the logistical and job-creation advantages of siting bioplastic manufacturing facilities near the feedstock source, and it's a no-brainer.
Pay special attention to the list of benefits of this kind of plastic. A lot of people who argue against bioplastic want you to think that the only thing bioplastic has to offer is that it is biodegradable. This is far from the truth.
According to the Miss America Organization, it has partnered with Nature's Bottles to promote their bioplastic-based bottled water made from NatureWorks' Ingeo polylactic acid resin.
Nature's Bottles noted the use of 2.5 billion barrels/year of oil for making plastics. The company said more than 60 million petroleum-based water bottle plastics end up in landfills every day.
"We are excited to partner with an innovative and exciting new company, Nature's Bottles(TM), to promote one of the most important and socially relevant causes that face our future generations," said Art McMaster, President and CEO of the Miss America Organization.
This story has gotten more coverage than almost anything else in the few days since it was announced.
Go, pretty people!
We all know the normal list of reasons to like bio-plastics. They reduce our dependence on oil, they are made from renewable resources, they don't goober-up the environment with non-biodegradable waste, and so on.
But now we have another reason: bioplastic packaging can actually have a beneficial effect on produce. More specifically, using bioplastic packaging may improve the shelf-life of some produce by 50%.
From the article:
"We have as a company started with the application of bioplastics because we want to stand out for our quality and are very keen to conserve the environment. After we solved the initial problems, it was surprising to find that the potatoes had a much longer shelf life with no adverse effect on the quality," said Jaap Kodde, director and owner of Flevostar. "We also found that by using bioplastic no condensation formed inside the packaging because the packaging 'breathes'. Droplets of water which come into contact with a fresh product such as potatoes lead to faster rotting and reduction in quality."
Meet Sunyuan Bioproducts, Ltd, a manufacturer of bioplastic products for food services.
It's not a big company: 120 workers, 10 researchers. Think of them as a small "specialty shop" dedicated to doing one thing, and doing it right: bioplastic cutlery.
You can order items in corn-starch (PLA), plant-starch (PLM) or sugarcane. You can order utensils, plates, bowls, trays, and clamshells in various shapes and sizes. The products are heat-resistant up to 100 centigrade, and they even take custom branding requests if you want a logo added for your company or event.
And they are all certified ISO14851, OK Compost, EN13432, and Non-GMO certificate. These are real bioplastics: biodegradable, compostable, and made from renewable resources.
You can find out more at one of their two websites: naturecutlery.com or bio-sy.com.
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