Troy Farah, writing for Ars Technica:
To put it plainly: not all bioplastics are created equal. So which ones may be key to a genuinely “greener” future? In 2020, five candidates seem to be rising to the eco-friendly top.
Until reading this article, the concept of transitioning to eco-friendly bioplastics were simply filed away in my brain as an obvious no-brainer, something that humanity must switch to as soon as possible if we want to avoid the climate catastrophes looming around the corner. But it turns out there’s more to the equation than just transitioning away from fossil fuel plastics and toward plant plastics. Farah does an excellent job of sharing some basic information about these plant-based materials before launching into the pros and cons of each one in this list.
Readers of this blog might not be surprised to learn that hemp is more viable than many of the other options (polylactic acid, polyhydroxybutyrate, and polybutylene succinate). But the winner might turn out to be lignin, “a blackish biodegradable byproduct of paper manufacturing”. This material can apparently be used to make just about anything. But bioplastics are struggling to compete with petroleum-based plastics on cost:
However, there is still a lack of investment in this market because it’s difficult or not worth the effort for companies to transition to using these materials. The cost of all bioplastics remains relatively high due to low oil prices.
There are still problems to solve before societies around the world can make the transition to eco-friendly plastics but it’s refreshing to see that they are being actively worked on.