Bioplastics from Food Crops

Petroleum-based plastics have ruled the roost for many years now, but with rising oil prices and an increasingly ‘greener’ conscience amongst entrepreneurs, they just might make way for the next best thing in the near future… bio-plastics!

Says who?

Frederic Scheer, head of the plastics manufacturer Cereplast.

What’s Cereplast?

A company that designs and makes sustainable plastics from starches found in tapioca, corn, wheat and potatoes! The company manufactures resins that biodegrade naturally within three months for use in products including cups, plastic lids and packaging. They also produce ‘hybrid’ resins of polypropylene that are stronger and more durable, for use in cars and children’s toys.

What’s bio about these plastics is that…

In using their resin, they inject up to 50% agricultural renewable resources giving the plastic a better carbon footprint.

Each time one kilo of traditional polypropylene is created, 3.15 kilos of CO₂ is also produced. But with the kind of bio-propylene that the company produces, only 1.40 kilos of CO₂ is generated…

What’s the catch?

Using food crops to generate tonnes of bio-plastics isn’t the most sustainable plan either if we are to go by the spike in food prices in 2008! So Cereplast is now working on algae as a potential source of starches that are required to create their bio-plastics.

via: physorg!