Plants continue to amaze me with how adaptable the products from them can be, and how many functions they can contribute to, often replacing the petroleum based current generation of products.
Sustainable production of these plant materials seems a no brainer, if petroleum products continue to increase in price, as is expected. If peak oil is nigh, then NOW is the time to really investigate the substitution of oil based with plant based products.
This link http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep09/petroleum0909.htm
takes you a recent ARS publication where a few of these are discussed. Many will have heard of starch based "polystyrene" substitutes, which are fully biodegradeable, in fact mostly compostable. These are now becoming more mainstream in Australia, although the USA has much wider use. They are just one product among many options.
Oil additives for lubrication especially high end areas, are a developing field with opportunities to replace oil based products with plant substitutes.
While this is US work, it applies very much to Australia as well. While we do not always manufacture these products, it does open up opportunities to develop some new options.
And we do sure need that.........NOW.
Showing posts with label bioplastics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bioplastics. Show all posts
Friday, September 04, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Plastic Bags Get a Qualified Tick
In Australia, the State Government of South Australia intends to ban plastic bags from 2010 [ I think that is the date]. I wrote something recently that took a swipe at that policy........plastic are visible litter but really are relatively less damaging to the environment than some other options.
Now there has been a serious examination of the life cycle impact of various shopping bags here in Australia. The "green bag" is widely used, and I have seen them in many places in SE Asia as well, being used by locals, who probably got them while holidaying in Australia. I used two tonight for some shopping myself. They are great.......but you need to remember to take them with you!
The precis of the report is below. It is VERY interesting reading and sure to be controversial, and I have no doubt will incur the ire of the great unwashed greenies.
Hey fellas, get real........there are a few sides to the story!
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Plastic bags better than underused reusable bags
Monday, 20 April 2009
Reusable shopping bags could be worse for global warming than single use plastic bags if they aren’t reused as often as they could be. But single use paper bags have the highest impact across all environmental categories, said a life cycle assessment for Woolworths on the environmental impact of shopping bags.
It also found that, regardless of material, all shopping bags could be diverted from landfill depending on available infrastructure and consumer behaviour.The environmental impacts of shopping bags by the Sustainable Packaging Alliance and RMIT University researchers assessed the impacts of seven different types of shopping bags including single use plastic bags, two types of reusable bags and degradable plastic bags.The bags fared differently according to the environmental impact being considered. For example, although single use paper bags were the overall worst offender, they have “the lowest impact in litter”.
The study examined the impact of the bags through their life cycle over eight categories including land use, water use, solid waste, global warming and fossil fuel use. “The life cycle which was modelled includes the environmental impacts associated with raw material sourcing and production, manufacture of the bags and their disposal at end of life (i.e. landfill, recycling, compost or litter),” the study’s authors say. “A qualitative review of disposal and recovery options for each bag was also undertaken.”
In support of the obvious point that a reusable bag isn’t a greener option unless the consumer actually repeatedly uses it, the study found the benefits of a reusable bag was “highly sensitive” to the number of times it is used because of the resources it consumes in its life cycle.The study assumes reusable bags are durable for use 104 times, or once weekly for two years. If it is only used half that number of times, it’s worse for global warming than single use plastic bags.
“The implication for retailers is that consumers should be encouraged to reuse existing bags rather than continuously buying new bags,” it says.
The researchers said about 3.9 billion single-use plastic shopping bags were consumed in the country in 2007 and many were reused “for shopping and alternative uses, such as bin liners and food storage”. Only some 16% are recycled and most of those that aren’t end up in landfill, but it is “not necessarily an environmental problem, because most landfills are designed to minimise degradation by compressing waste and removing leachate”.
The bags make up less than about 1% of litter, but attract much attention because they are “highly visible and persistent in the environment” and pose a potential hazard to wildlife.
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So........if you really want to make difference, use your reusable bag! This report also seriously undermines the SA Government position. The whole approach is a bit odd, as SA has been a great user of recycled plastics for making "plastic timber" - for fence posts, and similar uses as a replacement for some CCA treated pine posts, which now seem less attractive environmentally. Plastic waste including plastic bags went into that process. Surely we can improve recycling of plastic bags!
This whole issue has a long way to go yet!
Now there has been a serious examination of the life cycle impact of various shopping bags here in Australia. The "green bag" is widely used, and I have seen them in many places in SE Asia as well, being used by locals, who probably got them while holidaying in Australia. I used two tonight for some shopping myself. They are great.......but you need to remember to take them with you!
The precis of the report is below. It is VERY interesting reading and sure to be controversial, and I have no doubt will incur the ire of the great unwashed greenies.
Hey fellas, get real........there are a few sides to the story!
---------------------------------------------------
Plastic bags better than underused reusable bags
Monday, 20 April 2009
Reusable shopping bags could be worse for global warming than single use plastic bags if they aren’t reused as often as they could be. But single use paper bags have the highest impact across all environmental categories, said a life cycle assessment for Woolworths on the environmental impact of shopping bags.
It also found that, regardless of material, all shopping bags could be diverted from landfill depending on available infrastructure and consumer behaviour.The environmental impacts of shopping bags by the Sustainable Packaging Alliance and RMIT University researchers assessed the impacts of seven different types of shopping bags including single use plastic bags, two types of reusable bags and degradable plastic bags.The bags fared differently according to the environmental impact being considered. For example, although single use paper bags were the overall worst offender, they have “the lowest impact in litter”.
The study examined the impact of the bags through their life cycle over eight categories including land use, water use, solid waste, global warming and fossil fuel use. “The life cycle which was modelled includes the environmental impacts associated with raw material sourcing and production, manufacture of the bags and their disposal at end of life (i.e. landfill, recycling, compost or litter),” the study’s authors say. “A qualitative review of disposal and recovery options for each bag was also undertaken.”
In support of the obvious point that a reusable bag isn’t a greener option unless the consumer actually repeatedly uses it, the study found the benefits of a reusable bag was “highly sensitive” to the number of times it is used because of the resources it consumes in its life cycle.The study assumes reusable bags are durable for use 104 times, or once weekly for two years. If it is only used half that number of times, it’s worse for global warming than single use plastic bags.
“The implication for retailers is that consumers should be encouraged to reuse existing bags rather than continuously buying new bags,” it says.
The researchers said about 3.9 billion single-use plastic shopping bags were consumed in the country in 2007 and many were reused “for shopping and alternative uses, such as bin liners and food storage”. Only some 16% are recycled and most of those that aren’t end up in landfill, but it is “not necessarily an environmental problem, because most landfills are designed to minimise degradation by compressing waste and removing leachate”.
The bags make up less than about 1% of litter, but attract much attention because they are “highly visible and persistent in the environment” and pose a potential hazard to wildlife.
------------------------
So........if you really want to make difference, use your reusable bag! This report also seriously undermines the SA Government position. The whole approach is a bit odd, as SA has been a great user of recycled plastics for making "plastic timber" - for fence posts, and similar uses as a replacement for some CCA treated pine posts, which now seem less attractive environmentally. Plastic waste including plastic bags went into that process. Surely we can improve recycling of plastic bags!
This whole issue has a long way to go yet!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Bioplastics from Sugarcane
The Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology (CRC SIIB) today announced strong progress in providing new and diverse bioproduct opportunities for the Australian sugar industry in their 2007/08 Annual Report released in late October, 2008.
The CRC SIIB 2007/08 achievements include:
- together with its American-based member company Metabolix, the CRC SIIB reported the production of sugarcane containing 3.5% PHA (polyhydroxy alkanoate – a new class of biodegradable plastics). The CRC SIIB has made significant progress in producing bioplastics in sugarcane plants that can be used for a wide range of commercial applications and confirming that sugarcane is a preferred feedstock (over corn and sugar beet) for the production of bioproducts.
The chief executive of the CRC SIIB, Dr Peter Twine says he is now looking for investors to turn the research into a viable business venture. He hopes biodegradable plastic extracted from sugar cane will be used to produce a multitude of products in around five years time. "It could be used for any form of plastic where you want to get rid of it at the end of the day," he said. "Mulching in agriculture, mobile phone cases, beer keg tops. It can be injection-moulded or it can be created into sheet plastic."
Sugarcane has high biomass yields, significantly greater than competitive crops, which then offers a major cost advantage to sugarcane with high bioplastics yields. Combine that with other uses for sugarcane and maybe Australian biotechnology has a real winner. There is likely to be greater returns from this technology rather than the current simplistic process of producing ethanol from sugarcane.
Some additional detail is on the CRC website www.crcsugar.com
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