Bioplastics:: Increment in Use of Bioplastics

Bioplastics:
Bioplastics — often promoted as a climate-friendly alternative to

petroleum-based plastics — may lead to an increase in greenhouse gas
emissions, according to a study
The study from the University of Bonn in Germany, published in the

journal Environmental Research Letters, suggests that shifting to plant-
based plastics could have less positive effects than expected.
Increment in use of Bioplastics:
 An increased consumption of bioplastics in the following years is

likely to generate increased greenhouse gas emissions from
cropland expansion on a global scale.
 Plastics are usually made from petroleum, with the associated
impacts in terms of fossil fuel depletion but also climate change.
 It is estimated that by 2050, plastics could already be responsible
for 15% of the global CO2 emissions.
Bioplastics
 Bioplastics are plastics derived from renewable biomass sources,

such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, straw, woodchips, food
waste, etc.
 Bioplastics can be made from agricultural by-products and also
from used plastic bottles and other containers using
microorganisms.
 Bioplastics are usually derived from sugar derivatives, including
starch, cellulose, lactic acid.
 Common plastics, such as fossil-fuel plastics (also called
petrobased polymers) are derived from petroleum or natural gas.
 Not all bioplastics are biodegradable nor biodegrade more readily
than commodity fossil-fuel derived plastics.
 It can either be made by extracting sugar from plants like corn and
sugarcane to convert into polylactic acids (PLAs), or it can be made
from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) engineered from
microorganisms.
 PLA plastic is commonly used in food packaging, while PHA is
often used in medical devices like sutures and cardiovascular
patches.
Plastics:
 Plastic is the third most commonly used petroleum derivative in

the world; each year 200 million tons of plastic are consumed on
the planet.
 It comes from a non-renewable source (petroleum), it
is contaminating and non-biodegradable.
 It can take more than 1000 years to decompose.
Advantages of bioplastics:
 No adverse change to flavour or scent in food stored in bioplastic

containers
 They can reduce human carbon footprint
 Less consumption of non-renewable raw materials
 A reduction of non-biodegradable waste, which contaminates the
environment
 Increased energy savings in terms of production
 Fewer harmful additives such as phthalates or bisphenol A
Nature of Bioplastics
 Bioplastics are in principle climate-neutral since they are based on

renewable raw materials such as maize, wheat or sugar cane.
 These plants get the CO2 that they need from the air through their
leaves.
 Producing bioplastics therefore consumes CO2, which
compensates for the amount that is later released at end-of-life.
 Overall, their net greenhouse gas balance is assumed to be zero.
 Assumption doesn’t hold true
 Bioplastics are thus often consumed as an environmentally friendly
alternative.
 However, at least with the current level of technology, this issue is
probably not as clear as often assumed.
 The production of bioplastics in large amounts would change land
use globally.
 This could potentially lead to an increase in the conversion of
forest areas to arable land.
 Forests absorb considerably more CO2 than maize or sugar cane
annually, if only because of their larger biomass.
 The increasing demand for the “green” energy sources has brought
massive deforestation to some countries across the tropics.
 Not all bioplastics are easily degradable
 Just because plastics are made from plants does not automatically
make them easily degradable in marine environments.
 The study has found that it takes a lot of time for the switch to
bioplastics to pay off.
 Bio-PE and Bio-PET are for example not biodegradable, same as
their petroleum-based counterparts.
The pros of bioplastics
1. Bioplastics are made from plant raw materials instead of

petroleum oil, the raw material used to make conventional plastics.
2. Plant raw materials are renewable and sustainable unlike oil
which is a limited and finite resource.
3. The carbon footprint of manufacturing bioplastics is reportedly
75% lower than that of PET and PS alternatives i.e. their manufacture
is kinder to the environment.
4. Bioplastics are non-toxic and won’t leach chemicals into food.
According to a study conducted by The National Center for
Biotechnology Information in America; plastics (including BPA free
plastics) leach estrogen-like chemicals into food.
5. Bioplastics are biodegradable and compostable.
6. Bioplastics offer a variety of zero waste end of life
options. Bioplastics can be recycled with conventional plastics, they
can be cleanly incinerated and industrially composted. This is makes
bioplastics a great material for food packaging as used packaging
does not require cleaning since food and packaging can be
composted or incinerated together. The additional benefit of
composting is that biogas (a renewable energy source) can be
collected from the composting system.
The cons of bioplastics
We’ve included arguments against bioplastics because some of the cons require debunking.
1. Growing demand for bioplastics creates competition for

food sources, contributing to the global food crisis. This is a
misleading argument commonly used against bioplastics.
The raw material for bioplastics is an industrial-grade corn
which is not grown for human consumption. Recent
technological developments in the bioplastics industry have
shown that that it is possible to make
biodegradable “plastics” from hemp, seaweed and other
plants. As the market grows, we hope to see a move away
from using edible plants in the manufacture of biodegradable
packaging materials.
2. Bioplastics won’t biodegrade in a landfill. Unfortunately
landfills remain the last stop for many plastics. We believe
the benefits of a lower carbon footprint to produce bioplastic
products and the fact that they offer the potential for
composting as a new way of achieving zero waste still sets
them apart. There are arguments that should bioplastics end
up in nature they will break down into non-toxic components.
This requires a specific set of conditions, which are not
always available, to be in place.
3. Bioplastics encourage people to litter more. We hope not
and do not encourage littering with our products. (Don’t let us
catch you!) Littering is a human behaviour, which requires
education, raised awareness, a good infrastructure to be
reduced.
4. Bioplastics contaminate plastic recycling streams. Most
bioplastics are compatible with existing recycling systems.
Bioplastic PET is compatible with PET recycling streams and
bioplastic PE is compatible to the PE recycling stream.
5. Bioplastics are not the answer to marine litter. We
agree. Bioplastics are not the answer to marine litter.

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Bioplastics:

Bioplastics — often promoted as a climate-friendly alternative to

The study from the University of Bonn in Germany, published in the

Increment in use of Bioplastics:

 An increased consumption of bioplastics in the following years is

 Bioplastics are plastics derived from renewable biomass sources,

 Plastic is the third most commonly used petroleum derivative in

 No adverse change to flavour or scent in food stored in bioplastic

 Bioplastics are in principle climate-neutral since they are based on

The pros of bioplastics

1. Bioplastics are made from plant raw materials instead of

1. Growing demand for bioplastics creates competition for

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