Forgot Password?
Written by Andrew Parker   
Share |
Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Bioplastics
It might sound strange to imagine drinking from a cup made of corn, or cutting your potatoes with a knife actually made from potatoes, but more and more people are adopting this practice—whether they know it or not. This is the new world of cups, plates and utensils made from bioplastics! Such items are composed of natural materials and therefore are biodegradable, making them (in theory) much better for the environment than the traditional throw-away plastic. The production process for these items is often similar to that of plastics, just with a substitution of plant-based material.1

Why Use Bioplastics?
Utensils and dishes made from bioplastics have a smaller environmental impact on the production side, as they come from renewable materials instead of oil. They also have an advantage over traditional plastics at the end of their life cycle because they are designed to break down more easily, and without releasing toxins into the environment like plastic products.2 Lines of bioplastic utensils, such as TaterWare™ (guess what they’re made from!), are promoted by manufacturers who boast that their products are dishwasher-safe and can be reliably used for hot food and drinks.3 When you plan on discarding your bioplastic dishes and utensils the best thing is to compost them instead of sending them to landfill,4 making them even more ecofriendly ☺

Biodegradable Plates, Cups & Utensils
Biodegradable cups, plates, and utensils. 5


Bioplastics—A Booming Industry
These products are catching on quickly, and have already been adopted by major brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Heinz.6 This means good business for bioplastic producers such as NatureWorks, which makes bioplastic items from corn and is the world’s largest bioplastic company. Steve Bray, Director of Manufacturing at NatureWorks, described the increasing demand for these items: “in the first three years of operation we saw triple digit growth...even [during the recession] we had growth,” he said. “And now that the economy appears to be coming back we’re seeing very strong growth again.”7

The experience of NatureWorks is not unique. The bioplastics industry is undergoing huge expansion right now, driven in part by consumers who are more aware of the dangers of plastics and more willing to try alternatives. The other component is the cost for producers—as oil prices have increased over the last few years, so have manufacturing costs for traditional plastics. In other words, making bioplastic utensils is now economically feasible not because it became cheaper, but because the alternative became more expensive.8 Largely because of this trend, the bioplastics industry – which, while growing, currently makes up just a small fraction of overall plastic production – is projected to quadruple over the next two years.9 And of course, the industry is not limited to just cups, plates, and utensils; bioplastics are used in water bottles, some product packaging, and have the potential for many other applications.10

Growing pains… Bioplastics definitely sound appealing, but their quick appearance and growth in the market has resulted in a great deal of confusion for consumers, mainly how you properly dispose of bioplastic products. If someone tells you that your fork is biodegradable or compostable, what do you do with it after a meal? Throw it in your compost pile in the backyard? Does throwing it in the trash work just as well? The answers to these questions and others, unfortunately, mean that bioplastics don’t always have the minimal environmental impact for which are they designed. Let’s look at the options for disposing bioplastic…

Composting

Contrary to what you may expect, not all products labeled “compostable” are guaranteed to break down, even in commercial compost facilities. The bioplastics industry is still very new, and it takes time to develop effective standards and regulations in new sectors of the economy. A standardization effort is being undertaken by organizations such as the Biodegradable Products Institute, which “promotes the use and recycling of biodegradable plastics.”11 BPI has developed testing procedures and standardized requirements for the “compostable” label, which certifies that an item is suitable for commercial composting:12

Bioplastics


More and more people now do their own composting right in the backyard, and these individuals naturally tend to think that products which are labeled “biodegradable” or “compostable” would make perfect additions to the compost pile. But not all compost piles are the same, as it turns out. Bioplastic items will break down at commercial composting facilities, but they often will not if they are placed in smaller, residential compost piles. The key difference is the temperature—effective composting requires a significant amount of heat to assist with the breakdown of the items, and this level of heat is only generated by commercial composting.13 As a result, consumers who put bioplastics in their backyard compost piles are likely to notice that the items will stick around for quite a long time. BPI notes on its website that “the Compostable Logo identifies products that will perform satisfactorily in well managed municipal and commercial facilities.”14 Sadly, home-composters, who should be encouraged and applauded for their efforts, cannot reach the temperatures necessary to compost bioplastics at this time.

Landfill

Let’s put aside the distinctions between residential and commercial composting for a moment. What if you don’t have access to composting at all? In these cases, bioplastics end up in the trash along with everything else, and many consumers believe that this is still better than buying plastic products. After all, these items are designed to break down, so it will happen at the landfill anyway, right? Once again, the conventional wisdom doesn’t point you in the right direction. An item may be labeled as biodegradable, but that only means that it will break down under the right conditions. And these conditions, including the presence of plentiful oxygen, are not to be found at landfills.

According to Darby Hoover of the Natural Resources Defense Council, “if the product is destined to go into the landfill, whether or not it’s biodegradable doesn’t really give it an environmental advantage…Most landfills are not designed to break things down.”15 In other words, when it comes to landfills, a compostable cup is not much different from a regular plastic one. Unfortunately, when bioplastic cannot be composted, it will end up in landfill, as it is not currently able to be recycled by our recycling plants.16

The Future of Bioplastics
With all the confusion caused by bioplastics it may seem hardly worth it to continue producing the new product. However, it is important to remember that these items are very new and adjustment is still taking place on the part of both producers and consumers, as well as composting facilities. Bioplastics have grown enormously in a very short period of time, and while this is a good sign for the environment, it has become apparent that we are not quite prepared to deal with these products in a way that produces the maximum environmental benefit. With more education and broader adoption, this process will continue. But at the end of the day, it is important to remember that bioplastics are good for the environment not just because they are biodegradable, but because they are made with natural materials. Therefore, even if they are not perfect, bioplastics are already a big improvement over petroleum-based products.

Browse all Greeniacs Articles Browse all Greeniacs Guides        Browse all Greeniacs Articles
_______________________________________________________________________________

1 http://earth-to-go.com/faq/taterware#1
2 http://www.ehow.com/list_6181097_benefits-biodegradable-utensils.html
3 http://www.dirtworks.net/Biodegradable-Foodservice-Ware/Biodegradable-Cutlery.html
4 http://earth-to-go.com/faq/waste-disposal
5 http://blogs.smarter.com/homegarden/2007/11/26/biodegradable-plates-cups-utensils/
6 http://www.kvnonews.com/2011/07/demand-for-bioplastics-on-the-rise/
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 http://www.packagingdigest.com/article/518780-Global_demand
    _for_bioplastics_expected_to_quadruple_by_2013.php
10 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983894,00.html
11 http://reesenews.org/2011/07/07/shift-away-from-plastic-not-so-simple/17064/
12 http://www.sustainableplastics.org/faqs-why-choose-compostable-products-food-service
13 http://www.wirenh.com/features-mainmenu-18/cover-
    stories-mainmenu-53/5091-at-your-disposal.html
14 http://www.bpiworld.org/BPI-Public
15 http://www.wirenh.com/features-mainmenu-18/cover-
    stories-mainmenu-53/5091-at-your-disposal.html
16 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983894,00.html




Add your comment
RSS comments

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Click here to Register.  Click here to login.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 November 2011 )

SEARCH GREENIACS.COM

Green Facts

  • Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months

  • Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

  • A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

  • You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.

  • If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.

  • Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.

  • Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

  • Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.

  • American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.

  • Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.

  • A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.

  • For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.

  • Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.

  • Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.

  • It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.

  • Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.

  • You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.

  • Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.

  • In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.

  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

  • Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.

  • Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.

  • Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.

  • Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.

  • Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.

  • 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.

  • Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.

  • Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.

  • Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

  • An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!

  • The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.

  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

  • One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

  • 77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.

  • States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

  • Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.

  • In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

  • A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.

  • You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.