Study: Bio-Based Plastics Could Viably Replace Nearly All Plastics
In many ways plastics are simply synthetic compounds that mimic and try to improve upon substances we find widespread in nature—polymers such as you might find in wood, leaves, seeds and fur. Bio-based plastics (those derived from biological sources other than fossil fuels) have been around for more than 100 years. In fact, celluloid, the first synthetic plastic ever made was invented in the mid 1800s, and—you guessed it—was bio-based.
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Although bio-based plastics were widely researched and developed for the better part of 100 years, development of bio-based plastics was essentially shelved in the mid 1900s due to the widespread use of crude oil as a base for synthetic plastics—it was simply cheaper and easier to use due to its growing prevalence as the fuel source of choice.
But bio-based plastics are currently experiencing a renaissance of sorts due to renewed interest in weaning ourselves off of crude oil—so much so that now a group of researchers Utrecht University in the Netherlands suggest that almost all of the world’s plastics could be replaced with bio-based plastics.
The 243 page report goes into intricate details that I couldn’t possibly do justice to in this little snippet, but suffice it to say that the researchers find that there is no technical barrier to replacing 90% of all the plastics we use in our world today with bio-based plastics.
The researchers caution that the transition won’t come quickly and even under a high adoption rate, only about 1.5% of total worldwide production of plastics will be bio-based by 2020. Even so, the fact that it can be done without any technical limitations is great news for a world as dependent on plastics as we’ve become. And companies such as Ford have already begun serious research into how to replace much of the plastic used in their cars with bio-based types.
One cautionary note which I’m not sure really bears any relevance but is worth pointing out anyways: the research was commissioned by both the European Bioplastics association and the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE). Although it seems the report is unbiased, it’s always good to know where the funding is coming from.
Source: Green Car Congress
Image Credit: Ford
Why is there no mention anywhere in this article of the impact on food crops this transition (if it happens) would no doubt have ??
Marc P.
Eastman Chemical Company has a great track record with their plastics made from cellulosics. I interviewed a member of their team and they are doing some great stuff to work toward becoming more sustainable! If you’re interested you can learn more at their website, eastman.com, and their Innovation Lab site is the best collection of design collaboration videos I’ve seen anywhere.
Cellulose plastic from plants doesnt have to come from food sources. The left over wood resin from pulp/paper making can be used to make cellulose plastic. Speaking of Ford, did you know the Ford Model T had a hemp plastic dash? Hemp can be used for strong plastics, cloth, and fuel. The pulp mill in marathon, ontario Canada could be converted for this process, after it was Shut down because the owners Tembec ran it dry of income. The left over wood chips, probably a few hundred tons could be used. It would be cheap for a company under the circumstances.
unfortunately, for PLA, it does come from the kernel. I wonder what the deal is with soy? Are they using the beans or the husks? seems like the beans would make better foam than the husks.
BTW, I know this stuff can be made from non food sources, just surprised this article on this web site of all, has no mention of it. Even if this plastic is made from non food sources, it doesn’t mean it won’t have an impact, especialy if it is done on a large scale. If you take oil from a palm tree for fuel, it’s all fine and dandy. I can’t remember the last time had a palm tree for breakfast. But if you take thousands of acres of arable land to plant those palm trees… land that could have been used for food, then there is an impact. What type of bio-material are we talking about? What impact would the demands for plastic generating bio-materials have on the planet’s needs for the same lands / bio-materials (wheter it be food or not), etc. This is what I would have liked this article to mention and I’m surprised that on a web site such as this one, there was absolutely no mention of it!!
Marc,
Come on man, give me a break! The market for bio-based plastics is so small right now that making that kind of calculation is nearly impossible. There’s no research on it and no way to make any conclusions. How can I even begin to discuss something like that without any data? I suppose I could have put some kind of question in there about what the effect would be, but really that would just be taking up space at this point, and besides, that’s what the comments are for–as you’ve proven.
Also, your comment about palm trees is rather concerning. Look at any product with oil in it these days and tell me that you don’t see palm oil as one of the main ingredients. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about food or non-food sources for these products. It all comes down to how the process is managed. Right now the world’s insatiable desire for palm oil (spurred mostly by the food and cosmetics industry, although biofuel demand is a growing portion) is destroying huge swaths of virgin rainforest in southeast Asia at an alarming rate. It is having a large effect on animals, humans and the climate. So, do you still think using palm trees for these things is innocuous?
You tell ‘em, Nick! You da man! Don’t take no guff from these nit-picking hyenas!
Thats why i mentioned hemp. I can be used for food, yes. But it can also be grown as a yearly crop. In some warmer climates like, the southern US, they can have 2 or even 3 crops a year. It takes years for trees to grow. Not sure about palm tree growth… but don’t they grow coconuts?? Another thing about hemp is, if you dont harvest a field of it, it just turns into compose, feeding the soil.
“If you take oil from a palm tree for fuel, it’s all fine and dandy. I can’t remember the last time had a palm tree for breakfast.”
This comment was, of course, meant to be ironic, as the rest of what I wrote should have made it obvious. The gist of it being that any non-food source of bio-material (grass, wood chips, etc.) still has to grow somewhere, that somewhere being a place where one could have grown food or where a rain forest could have continued to grow instead of being cut down. On a small scale, we could do this out of material that would have been thrown away, so in a sense, it is an interesting option for recycling.
I agree with you fully that the destruction of rain forests for palm tree plantations is horrible and it was actually part of my point. If we’re destroying rain forests today for palm trees to make cosmetics, bio-fuel and cooking oil, will we tomorrow be destroying any remaining rain forests to seed whatever plant helps us to make bio-plastics.
THAT is the gist of my comment and I legitimately ( if not 100% diplomatically ) expressed my surprise that on a site such as this one, there was no mention of it in your article. Mentioning it as a question would have at least shown some awareness of the possible environmental impacts of the technological possibilities you’re talking about.
After all, aren’t we in this mess in the first place because we didn’t think ahead of time about the social and environmental impacts of all these great technologies we developed ??
Marc P.
Marc,
Thanks for being a bit more diplomatic on this one.
“I legitimately ( if not 100% diplomatically ) expressed my surprise that on a site such as this one, there was no mention of it in your article.”
By way of defense, if you even read a smidgen of what I regularly post on gas 2.0, you’ll find that I spend WAY more time than most digging into the details of things and asking the tough questions. But I only do it if there’s a way to answer those questions. If there is no way to answer the questions I typically (from experience) steer clear of delving more deeply. Believe me, it just leads to more trouble and wasted time that I don’t have (really this is just a hobby for me).
And, like I said (and you’ve proven), in my mind, that’s what the comments section is for.