In light of dwindling oil supplies worldwide and an ever-increasing need for plastic food packaging products, very exciting news was recently published in the British press. According to a story in the Telegraph, British scientists have developed a compostable plastic made from sugars derived from non-edible plants. Using various grasses and fast growing trees, Imperial College London researchers have successfully changed glucose from these plants into a polymer suitable for plastic production.
[photo by: //amy//]
Some plant-based plastics are already available, such as those made from corn. While these biodegrade at a much faster rate than oil-based plastics, which can take hundreds of years to break down, they still require an extended period of time to decompose. The new plastics made from sugars biodegrade much more quickly, and will possibly even allow for the composting of plastics at home.
[photo by: foxypar4]
Unlike corn-based plastics, the plants used to make this new plastic are not plants that are used for food. These grasses and trees also grow quickly and require less land to cultivate a quantity sufficient for plastic production, eliminating much of the controversy that often accompanies the proposition of using plants as a substitute for fossil fuel when manufacturing various products.
[photo by: Uwe Hermann]
It is estimated that these new plastic packaging products could be in use by the middle of this decade. Additional research and testing is needed before commercial development is possible but the outlook is promising. Currently, nearly 99 percent of plastics are manufactured using scarce fossil fuels, which makes plastic packaging made from renewable plant-based sources a very exciting development!
Tags: Compost, Eco, Environment, Plant, recycling
Thanks for the nice information. Keep up the good work. I’ll spread the word around.