In recent years, a considerable number of new bioplastic companies have entered the market. They believe that sustainable, renewable resources are the solution to the global plastic crisis and are promising to transform the industry with their bio-developed polymer platforms. Everything seems so simple, and “bio” is undoubtedly popular with investors and seems to be catching on with consumers. In actuality, though, bioplastics are just the start of an arduous and frequently frustrating path.
Naturally, given the growing concerns about plastic waste and the effects of conventional plastics on the environment, bioplastic makes perfect sense. Customers, companies, and governments are looking for more environmentally friendly and sustainable substitute materials in response to these worries. A more sustainable alternative to conventional plastics are bioplastics, which are produced from renewable resources including maize starch, sugarcane, vegetable oils, and even seaweed. They may be broken down by natural processes and do not present a long-term environmental danger because they are primarily compostable and biodegradable.
Nonetheless, the bioplastics industry is still in its early stages and is expanding obstinately slowly. According to the trade group European Bioplastics, the world’s ability to produce bioplastics is predicted to increase from over 2.23 million tonnes in 2022 to over 6.3 million tonnes in 2027.
With 48% of the market in 2022, packaging remains the most popular use.
The trade association claims that bioplastics are also utilized in the horticultural and agricultural, electronics, automotive and transportation, and electric sectors, and that their share of the overall market is expected to increase slightly.
However, the penetration of bioplastics in the overall plastics industry remains minute, at around 0.5%*.
John Williams, Chief Technology Officer, Aquapak says: “The bioplastics industry faces several different challenges – none of them mutually exclusive. The first is feedstock – where is it coming from and is there enough of it? There has been criticism for incentivising land use change, as forests are cleared for feedstock production and do we fully understand the potential impact on biodiversity if there is an increase in marine derived feedstock, for example? Interestingly, the impact of an increased use of agricultural and related feedstock, according to independent reports, is minimal but there is still a widespread concern driven by this misunderstanding.
The waste management system presents the second difficulty. To be circular, the industry must overcome the shortcomings of the current waste management system. Being compostable or biodegradable is meaningless if the material cannot be recovered through collection and processing alone. In order to minimize end-of-life effects and eventually eradicate soil and marine pollution, all materials must be recycled, composted, or reused.
The third is that bioplastics are expensive to make. Compared to conventional plastics made from petroleum, bioplastics are more costly to create, and this higher cost is frequently passed on to customers in the form of higher prices for bioplastics products. Because of this, bioplastics may find it challenging to compete with conventional plastics, particularly in markets where costs are a factor, like packaging.
The fourth, and possibly most significant, problem is creating solutions that can be widely marketed. Polypropylene and polyethylene have become so prevalent for a reason. Environmental concerns were not taken into consideration when they were created since their practical advantages made them the dominating force. Compared to the conversion of plant feedstocks using biorefineries, the process of refining crude oil is far more efficient and has a significantly higher carbon density per unit of conversion.
“For many of the bio offers on the market, despite significant investor support, they are still very much work in progress. Despite claims from some quarters, there is no one biobased material solution. The target end products are complex and new biobased products must meet functional and regulatory requirements. There’s a very real risk that if the industry continues to operate in silos, development will remain painfully slow. Collaboration between industry partners will be key to success.
“The bioplastics industry can benefit from the lessons we learned during the development of Hydropol; in fact, many in the industry are currently collaborating with us, but the more we can all work together, the better. However, creating a new polymer requires a significant amount of time and money, and many of the difficulties encountered are beyond your control. You have to work with increasingly complicated material combinations in an environment designed for materials like PP and PE. It is not an easy undertaking to move the world away from them. Ensuring industry collaboration and mixing new materials with current ones to maximize functionality and end-of-life is the only way to improve the environmental situation and speed up the shift to a completely circular economy supply chain.
