Bio-Plastics

These are plastics made from plants. The starch contained within the plant is processed to produce a polymer. It is actually possible to produce most polymers from bio materials, but the bio plastics LBP uses most commonly are PLA and Mater Bi. These bio-plastics are compostable. Bio-plastics behave in a similar way to conventional plastics and are suitable for most packaging applications.

Renewable Resources. Bio-plastics are made from renewable plants that grow back each year. Any plant can be used to make bio-plastics although the most common are potatoes and corn. Bio-plastics are not made from oil like conventional plastics. Oil is a finite resource that takes millions of years to form. The use of bio based materials is an important step away from an economy dependent on cheap oil towards a renewable economy.

Carbon Footprint. Bio-plastics have a lower carbon emission footprint than conventional plastics. Through using bio-plastics we are fighting climate change. The reasons bio-plastics are low carbon include:

• Less energy is required than conventional plastics in the manufacturing process

• Bio-plastic manufacturers use a high percentage of renewable energy

• Bio-plastic is made from plants which take carbon from the atmosphere during their growth. Any carbon emitted to the atmosphere
on disposal has therefore been previously removed, neutralising its effect. If carbon is not emitted on disposal the bio plastic has sequestered the carbon from the atmosphere.

Bio-plastic (PLA) emits 0.75 kilos of carbon dioxide per kilo of resin as compared with conventional plastic (PET), which emits 3.4 kilos of carbon dioxide per kilo. So bio-plastic emits 77% less carbon dioxide. For ever kilo of material bio-plastic saves around 2.65 kilos of carbon dioxide*. This is not just a marginal difference but an important step in fighting climate change.
(*Industrial Biotechnology, Volume 3, Number 1, 2007, Page 58-81. “The eco-profiles for current and near-future NatureWorks polylactide (PLA) production”. Vink E.T.H. et all.)

Disposal

Bio-plastics are compostable. This means they will biodegrade down to small pieces within 90 days, without leaving any toxic residue under industrial composting conditions. For more details please see the compostable eco label above.  There are many hundreds of composting and anaerobic digestion facilities in the UK with even more coming online in the next few years.

LBP has developed the UK’s first Closed Loop Composting process to collect and compost your packaging waste. Composting is nature’s way of recycling and creates no waste. London Bio Packaging is a member of the Association for Organics Recycling (was the Composting Association).

Bio-plastics are recyclable. Not only can you recycle bio plastics mechanically (reconstituting and reusing the material) and also recycle chemically (i.e. with PLA, breaking the polymer down into lactic acid then reforming the bio-plastic, trials in the UK are currently taking place).

Trials by leading machine sorting system manufacturers have shown that bio-plastics can be separated from other plastics into their own recycling stream. However, investment is needed at some sorting facilities to improve this infra-structure for separating bio-plastics. Because bio-plastics still only account for a fraction of overall plastics used this has not been a priority for waste management bodies.  However, to build a sustainable future with compostable plastics this investment is needed.

Bio-plastics in landfill.  The University of Arizona’s archaeological “Garbage Project,” revealed that landfills are not buried pits of decay, as generally assumed, but rather tombs that preserve much of the buried waste. In landfill buried for 30 years findings included newspapers that are readable and whole and recognizable food items, like a 15-year old T-bone steak with the meat and fat still clinging to the bone. Other investigations have similarly demonstrated that landfills preserve a large portion of the resident organic matter. In general, the extent of decomposition found among different landfills, and within a given landfill, is dependent on the amount and distribution of moisture.

Bio-plastics and other bio-wastes based in an inactive landfill are unlikely to be biodegrade much based on above studies due to lack and distribution of moisture. Thus bio-plastic would not become biologically active and contribute to methane production. However, if bio-plastic is placed in a biologically actively landfill, it would actively biodegrade with organic wastes and the methane gas would be captured for power generation, leaving behind a stable, inert material. Bio-plastics also do not contain any harmful toxins that can leach into the soil. The multiple disposal alternatives for bio-plastics means they can play a key role in landfill diversion.

Bio-plastic incineration. Much of the waste created in Europe will currently go into incineration. If bio-plastics are incinerated they burn more cleanly than oil based plastics. Complete incineration will result in CO2, H2O, CO and small amounts of ash. The carbon emitted is renewable, balanced by the carbon absorbed by the crop during plant growth. Incineration of oil based plastics releases fossil carbon into the atmosphere.