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We use plastics in almost every aspect of our lives. These materials are cheap to make and incredibly stable. The problem comes when we&#;re done using something plastic &#; it can persist in the environment for years. Over time, plastic will break down into smaller fragments, called microplastics, that can pose significant environmental and health concerns.
The best-case solution would be to use bio-based plastics that biodegrade instead, but many of those bioplastics are not designed to degrade in backyard composting conditions. They must be processed in commercial composting facilities, which are not accessible in all regions of the country.
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed new bioplastics that degrade on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin. These bioplastics are made entirely from powdered blue-green cyanobacteria cells, otherwise known as spirulina. The team used heat and pressure to form the spirulina powder into various shapes, the same processing technique used to create conventional plastics. The UW team&#;s bioplastics have mechanical properties that are comparable to single-use, petroleum-derived plastics.
The team published these findings June 20 in Advanced Functional Materials.
&#;We were motivated to create bioplastics that are both bio-derived and biodegradable in our backyards, while also being processable, scalable and recyclable,&#; said senior author Eleftheria Roumeli, UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering. &#;The bioplastics we have developed, using only spirulina, not only have a degradation profile similar to organic waste, but also are on average 10 times stronger and stiffer than previously reported spirulina bioplastics. These properties open up new possibilities for the practical application of spirulina-based plastics in various industries, including disposable food packaging or household plastics, such as bottles or trays.&#;
The researchers opted to use spirulina to make their bioplastics for a few reasons. First of all, it can be cultivated on large scales because people already use it for various foods and cosmetics. Also, spirulina cells sequester carbon dioxide as they grow, making this biomass a carbon-neutral, or potentially carbon-negative, feedstock for plastics.
&#;Spirulina also has unique fire-resistant properties,&#; said lead author Hareesh Iyer, a UW materials science and engineering doctoral student. &#;When exposed to fire, it instantly self-extinguishes, unlike many traditional plastics that either combust or melt. This fire-resistant characteristic makes spirulina-based plastics advantageous for applications where traditional plastics may not be suitable due to their flammability. One example could be plastic racks in data centers because the systems that are used to keep the servers cool can get very hot.&#;
Creating plastic products often involves a process that uses heat and pressure to shape the plastic into a desired shape. The UW team took a similar approach with their bioplastics.
&#;This means that we would not have to redesign manufacturing lines from scratch if we wanted to use our materials at industrial scales,&#; Roumeli said. &#;We&#;ve removed one of the common barriers between the lab and scaling up to meet industrial demand. For example, many bioplastics are made from molecules that are extracted from biomass, such as seaweed, and mixed with performance modifiers before being cast into films. This process requires the materials to be in the form of a solution prior to casting, and this is not scalable.&#;
Other researchers have used spirulina to create bioplastics, but the UW researchers&#; bioplastics are much stronger and stiffer than previous attempts. The UW team optimized microstructure and bonding within these bioplastics by altering their processing conditions &#; such as temperature, pressure, and time in the extruder or hot-press &#; and studying the resulting materials&#; structural properties, including their strength, stiffness and toughness.
These bioplastics are not quite ready to be scaled up for industrial usage. For example, while these materials are strong, they are still fairly brittle. Another challenge is that they are sensitive to water.
&#;You wouldn&#;t want these materials to get rained on,&#; Iyer said.
The team is addressing these issues and continuing to study the fundamental principles that dictate how these materials behave. The researchers hope to design for different situations by creating an assortment of bioplastics. This would be similar to the variety of existing petroleum-based plastics.
The newly developed materials are also recyclable.
&#;Biodegradation is not our preferred end-of-life scenario,&#; Roumeli said. &#;Our spirulina bioplastics are recyclable through mechanical recycling, which is very accessible. People don&#;t often recycle plastics, however, so it&#;s an added bonus that our bioplastics do degrade quickly in the environment.&#;
Co-authors on this paper are UW materials science and engineering doctoral students Ian Campbell and Mallory Parker; Paul Grandgeorge, a UW postdoctoral scholar in materials science and engineering; Andrew Jimenez, who completed this work as a UW postdoctoral scholar in materials science and engineering and is now at Intel; Michael Holden, a UW master&#;s student studying materials science and engineering; Mathangi Venkatesh, a UW undergraduate student studying chemical engineering; Marissa Nelsen, who completed this work as a UW undergraduate student studying biology; and Bichlien Nguyen, a principal researcher at Microsoft. This research was funded by Microsoft, Meta and the National Science Foundation.
For more information, contact Roumeli at . Note: Roumeli is on Eastern Time this week.
Grant number: DGE-
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I&#;m big on ending fossil fuels. They directly contribute to climate change, all while collectively harming our environment, animals, and people. I&#;ve never heard of a pipeline that doesn&#;t leak or exploit the people living beside it; Never heard of a petrochemical plant that didn&#;t emit toxins into the air; Never heard of a coal mine that emitted &#;clean coal.&#; But in order for fossil fuels to go the way of the dinosaur, we do need viable plastic alternatives. Plastic is made from fossil fuels, specifically crude oil, and our society has come to depend on plastic in a number of ways. Plastic has been used to advance science, medicine, and society so I&#;m not trying to demonize it. Replacing plastic is no easy task, but a lot of progress is being made. Without further ado, here are 6 plastic alternatives I&#;m genuinely impressed by.
When talking about what can be used instead of plastic, I should specify in what context I&#;m referring to. For clarity, I&#;m specifically referring to plastic-like substances that can be used in place of plastic. So, essentially, bioplastics.
Bioplastics are plastic-like substances that can be made from natural resources such as vegetable oils and starches. Since bioplastics are plant-based products, the consumption of petroleum for the production of plastic is expected to decrease by 15&#;20% by .
We&#;ll talk more about what bioplastics are in a second &#; but what you need to know is why they&#;re important.
A better alternative for plastic packaging are most of the bioplastics I talk about on this list.
Plastic packaging is in reference to items like Styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, and plastic clampshells. Anything used to protect or ship a package essentially.
Some better alternatives would be using biodegradable cornstarch packaging peanuts, mushroom Styrofoam, and even just compostable shredded paper to cushion an item.
We&#;ll be talking more in-depth about these bioplastic alternatives later in the post. But honestly, the most cost-efficient and eco way for businesses to package their products is by upcycling.
For example, using old newspapers or scrap paper to protect goods. Or, reusing mailers/boxes to send packages. Tiny Yellow Bungalow is one online business I know that does this (and I love her zero waste inventory!).
Before we get into bioplastics, it should be noted that I don&#;t think they&#;re the end-all solution, or a perfect one at that.
For starters, the creation of bioplastics still use up a lot of energy and resources. And, certain bioplastics still need actual plastic to be made.
Also, many bioplastics (unless they say they&#;re home compostable) can only be broken down properly in industrial composting facilities. Not everyone has access to these facilities (I currently don&#;t!), so most of them may end up in the landfill.
Many bioplastics cannot be easily recycled, as they tend to be made from unrecyclable or mixed materials. The whole purpose of them is to be composted (either at a home or industrial level). But if that isn&#;t any option, they&#;re destined for landfill, which doesn&#;t bode well for the environment.
Truly, if bioplastics are going to succeed, we need everyone to gain access to industrial composting. More home compostable bioplastic options should come out too.
And, last but not least, we need to rely less overall on disposables (that includes ones made from bioplastic!) and shift our wasteful mindset into a more circular one.
In a way, yes, bioplastics can replace plastics. There are several different kinds of bioplastics on the market (not all created equal). Essentially, bioplastics are made from plants or other biodegradable materials.
I think at the moment bioplastics are largely used to replace single-use plastic, and while that&#;s a good start, I&#;d love to see it used more dynamically. Like in building materials, medical supplies, car parts, kid playgrounds and so on.
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In no particular order, here&#;s an in-depth list of some of the most nuanced plastic alternatives out there.
Mushroom packaging is by far one of the coolest plastic alternatives out there. And probably the most straight forward, in my opinion.
Made with only two simple ingredients &#; hemp hurd and mycelium &#; their packaging protects whatever you&#;re shipping.
It works a lot like Styrofoam, without the waste. It&#;s also home compostable which is even better because you don&#;t need access to industrial composters to break it down!
It&#;s perfect for protective packaging, like shipping out fragile items such as glass.
One of the most popular grain-based bioplastics that I love is cornstarch-based packaging peanuts. These compostable and biodegradable peanuts are an alternative to Styrofoam packing peanuts.
Biodegradable packaging peanuts are often starch-based and they completely dissolve in water. This makes it impossible for them to pollute our waterways. Should an animal take a chomp out of them, they&#;re also non-toxic. And, to dispose of them, you can wash them down the drain or add them to your compost. They&#;ll break down!
Other grain-based bioplastics include corn and rice. Corn is perhaps the most well known and sturdy bioplastic. It&#;s what you think of when you picture a bioplastic cold cup.
These are typically able to biodegrade with access to an industrial composting facility. Not a perfect solution, but I can see this being important in cafes with to-go orders.
Seaweed is an incredibly diverse plant that I&#;m convinced can do just about anything. Including be made into seaweed packaging! This is a wonderful, home compostable alternative to plastic that has many environmental benefits.
Sway, a specific brand making seaweed packaging, uses the natural polymers abundantly found in different types of seaweed as the basis of all their material formulations.
According to Sway, &#;these extracted polymers help us to mimic the compelling qualities of plastic, without the downsides. Better yet, seaweed is an abundant, diverse resource that requires no land, fresh water, or fertilizer to grow. Sway materials enable a shift away from carbon-intensive inputs, towards a truly regenerative resource that gives more than it takes.&#;
Sway has been used to make greeting card sleeves and footwear packaging that biodegrades in weeks (not hundreds of years).
Harvard University researchers have created a fully biodegradable plastic from shrimp shells. Dubbed shrilk, the bioplastic is made of the main ingredient found in the hardy shells: chitin.
This alternative to plastic could also be used to make trash bags, packaging, and diapers. It&#;s already being transformed into complex shapes like egg cartons and chess pieces.
Once discarded, shrilk breaks down in just a few weeks and even releases rich nutrients that support plant growth.
While I do think this is promising, I think my main critique of it would be the possibility of overfishing, and fish allergens (aka, not everyone would be able to use it, if they&#;re allergic to shellfish).
A Mexican company, BIOFASE, is transforming avocado seeds into bioplastics. Specifically they are using the avocado pits.
BIOFASE has made biodegradable straws, cutlery, dishes and containers with their avocado pits. The composition of BIOFASE products is 60% avocado seed biopolymers and 40% synthetic organic compounds.
According to BIOFASE, the plant-based content of their products will break down in the ground or in any landfill, unlike plastic.
Again, not a perfect solution (honestly, just opting for a reusable utensil set is best), but I could see this catching on in to-go restaurants.
Hemp can be used to make bioplastic as well, and it&#;s a renewable resource. But not all hemp bioplastic is capable of being composted, as some of it is mixed with actual plastic.
By switching to hemp plastic, businesses can achieve 25%-100% reduction in plastic use. Businesses can can choose hemp plastic that uses 100% bio-based resin, and many of hemp plastic polymers can be biodegradable or compostable (just not all).
Hemp itself is also a carbon negative renewable source. It consumes far more greenhouse gasses than are emitted in its production. Just one ton of hemp can absorb up to 1.6 tons of CO2, making it a good carbon sequestration option.
I don&#;t think of this as a perfect solution to the plastic pollution crisis, but I do see it as a way to cut down on plastic production and greenhouse gases.
These plastic alternatives, aka bioplastics, aren&#;t a perfect solution to our plastic pollution problem. Especially if we plan on using them the same exact wasteful way we use plastic today.
It takes a long time for some bioplastics to break down, and when they end up in landfills, they contribute to methane emissions (NIH).
Although many bioplastics can be industrially composted, not everyone has access to industrial composting facilities across the United States.
In order for bioplastics to truly be the sustainable choice, we need to give everyone access to proper disposal of them (aka industrial composting).
AND, we can&#;t rely on bioplastics for everything. I&#;m a big believe in reduce and reuse: Utilizing more reusables in general, as opposed to anything single-use (bioplastic or not) will always be the most sustainable option.
So maybe lets try offering incentives for bringing reusables (ex: $2 off when you bring a reusable mug), or making bioplastics available on request only. (ex: a bioplastic straw only added to a drink when asked).
Also, FYI, but a lot of bioplastics can present allergen problems. For example, if you&#;re allergic to mushrooms or shrimp, you probably wouldn&#;t want to get a bioplastic Starbucks cup made from those materials. So bioplastics need to also be accessible for everyone (especially within the disability community who may rely on items like plastic straws to survive), not just the vast majority.
Here&#;s where bioplastics can aid us most: Using them for the medical, construction and scientific sectors. Instead of turning it into a single-use product, using them to build our cars, spaceships, and medical needles seems a lot more beneficial to me.
What are your thoughts on these plastic alternatives? Do you support bioplastics? Let me know in the comments.
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