Starch from corn is used to create PLA plastic.
When you hear the word “bioplastics,” you might imagine a bottle or container that easily breaks down into soil and other natural matter soon after it’s tossed — but that’s not necessarily the case.
Bioplastics are made with ingredients from renewable sources, such as potatoes and corn starch (also called PLA plastics), rather than petroleum or natural gas, and therefore, you would expect them to be biodegradable. Surprisingly, this is not always true, and there are many drawbacks to bioplastics you may not be aware of.
First, bioplastics can’t be recycled with traditional polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics because they contaminate the PET plastic stream. Wouldn’t it be terrible if all the plastic you’ve so diligently placed in your recycle bin for the past month winds up in a landfill because some “bioplastic” got mixed up in it? And sorting the different plastics is an option, but that takes time, accuracy and a hefty financial commitment. Second, landfill environments rarely provide a sufficient amount of heat, light and oxygen necessary for bioplastic breakdown, so bioplastics that end up there don’t decompose and instead last for hundreds, or possibly thousands, of years.
Bioplastics that are marketed as being “biodegradable” can cause a lot of confusion. The misunderstanding lies in the area between what the material is capable of (the extent and rate at which it biodegrades) and what specific conditions must be present in order for it to do so. For example, a corn starch-based plastic certainly has elements that will break down, but it needs the application of extremely high heat for this to occur, something that likely won’t be present in a landfill, nor in your compost heap in the backyard. These plastics will have to be accepted by one of the few commercial composting facilities, where all the decomposition conditions can be controlled, in order for them to successfully biodegrade.
Traditional PET and PLA bottles could last for thousands of years in a landfill.
Other drawbacks to bioplastics include abnormalities from a manufacturing and distributing standpoint. PLA plastics just don’t “behave” quite the same way that traditional plastics do. For example, bottles, utensils and other objects made of PLA plastic can only resist heat up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (with certain resins, possibly up to 200 degrees) before their strength is compromised and they begin to melt. Additionally, bioplastics generally have weaker oxygen barriers and decreased impact resistance. All these factors can negatively impact shelf life, ease of distribution and contact with hot foods and liquids.
It would seem as though consumers have to choose either PLA plastics, which will melt, reduce product shelf life, contaminate recycling and last for centuries in a landfill, or traditional PET plastics, which work great but will last for just as long. So what do you do?
An effective solution to this problem must take the needs of manufacturers and distributors, as well as realistic landfill conditions and the processes of recycling facilities, into consideration. ENSO Bottles manufactures plastic bottles that have been specifically designed to meet those challenges. During the plastic’s creation, an additive is included which inserts organic compounds into the polymer. The result is a plastic with the same properties as traditional PET plastic (with regards to strength, heat resistance and the oxygen barrier) that can be recycled right along with PET plastic, but can also decompose in a typical anaerobic landfill environment. What’s the key? Microbes.
Check with the recycling facility to see what it does and does not accept.
With those organic compounds added into the molecular structure of the plastic, ENSO Bottles become very attractive food sources to the microbes present in landfills, and the plastic is “eaten away,” in a sense. As the microbes seek out the nutrients provided in the ENSO additive, they break down all parts of the polymer chain, including the plastic, into non-harmful bio-gases and bio-mass in a process that typically lasts between one and five years — a far shorter timeframe than the potentially hundreds or thousands of years it takes a traditional PET bottle to decompose.
So the next time you start to toss a bioplastic water bottle or packaging into a trash bin, consider where it’s probably headed: a landfill, where it will likely never experience the ideal conditions it requires to biodegrade. Contact your local collection facility instead to learn whether or not it accepts that category of plastic (referred to as #7), and better yet, consider your alternatives, such as the biodegradable ENSO Bottles.
May
SABIC Innovative Plastics is spotlighting high-performance thermoplastic resin, sheet, foam and composite solutions that are helping aviation customers meet the critical challenges of weight-out, regulatory compliance, and sustainability, while improving the flying experience. These innovative products, together with the company’s extended portfolio of advanced material technologies are helping global aircraft OEMs reduce weight by up to 50%, which can conserve fuel and lower emissions; meet tough flame-smoke-toxicity (FST) regulations; reduce overall system costs; and enhance the safety and comfort of the cabin environment. SABIC Innovative Plastics’ growing array of products reinforces the company’s leadership as a global supplier to the aviation sector and demonstrates the transformative power of high-performance plastics.
SABIC Innovative Plastics is also displaying noteworthy applications: the Crystal Cabin award-winning LSG Sky Chef ultra-light in-flight trolley; a passenger service unit engineered and supplied by PECO Manufacturing for the new Boeing 737 BSI; new generation oven parts from Sell Cabin Interiors GmbH; a magazine/brochure rack from Bucher Leichtbau AG; and a new seating design from Geven S.p.A., a leading aircraft seating and interior solutions provider. These solutions illustrate how SABIC Innovative Plastics is working with some of the industry’s leading solutions providers to help them stay ahead of ever changing industry standards.
On average, an aircraft will burn about 0.03kg (.06lbs) of fuel for each kilogram (2.2lbs) carried on board per hour. Given that the total commercial fleet flies about 57 million hours per year, cutting one kilogram per flight can save roughly 1,700 tons of fuel and 5,400 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year1. SABIC Innovative Plastics’ new high performance technologies for the aircraft sector can deliver important benefits when they are implemented widely throughout the airlines. For example, by using Lexan* F6000 sheet to replace traditional polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/acrylic products on seating frames, an airline could reduce weight by approximately 23%, which is 80kg (176lbs) based on a plane with 190 seats. The following materials offer compelling weight, performance benefits and compliance for interior applications.
o Lexan XHR (extremely low heat release) 6000 sheet: Lexan XHR sheet provides superior weight-out of up to 12% vs. traditional PVC/polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) products for better fuel economy. It fully complies with FST requirements (FAR25853) of major airlines for seating, cockpit linings, window surrounds, door shrouds, and other interior components. It can be color-matched in sheet and resin form for color coordinated thermoformed and injection-molded parts. Geven S.p.A., the leading aircraft seating and interior solutions provider, has chosen Lexan XHR sheet for their new aircraft seating for Carribean Airlines’ Armonia interiors, designed by Giugiaro. The challenging goal of limiting the seat weight to a maximum 9kg (19.8lbs) pressed Geven to explore new, high-performance lightweight material. Lexan XHR sheet was the solution to this challenge due to the material’s compliance with the stringent flame, smoke, heat release and Airbus toxicity requirements. It also provides excellent processability with thermoforming and weight-out vs. traditional polyvinyl chloride/acrylic products.
o Ultem* Composite Aerospace Board (CAB): Ultem CAB sheets, co-developed and manufactured with Crane & Co., provide a superior alternative to thermoset aramid fiber-reinforced honeycomb composites. The Ultem CAB sheets can be quickly thermoformed, offer a broad range of high-performance properties, are recyclable and offer great potential to be refurbished with a newly developed decorative film layer to extend useful life while still meeting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements.
o Carbon-filled Ultem resins: SABIC Innovative Plastics’ 40% carbon-filled Ultem resin technologies feature exceptional stiffness and flow. These properties allow production of thin-wall molded parts to replace airline grade die-cast aluminum in structural components for up to 50% weight savings and up to 40% increase in strength. Potential applications include structural supports, arm rests, foot rests, galley applications such as coffee maker chassis, and tray table arms. Building upon Ultem resin’s proven capabilities for aircraft interiors; carbon-fiber-filled Ultem resin complies with FAA flammability FAR25853, smoke density and heat release requirements for Ohio State University (OSU) standard 65/65.
o Transparent Lexan F2000A sheet: This sheet product offers excellent FST performance and impact strength, and complies with FAR25853 & ABD0031 requirements at 2mm and 3mm, respectively. It is a candidate for windows, light diffusers and signs where clarity is requested. Lexan F2000A sheet provides environmentally responsible flame retardance according to DIN/VDE 0472 part 815. Light weight, transparent Lexan F2000A sheet was selected by Patrick Lindon, a leading industrial designer for the interior and product design specializing in aircraft interiors and seating, to create its new inflight brochure rack for Bucher Leichtbau AG.
o Transparent Lexan FST copolymer resin: Now available in a clear formulation, this resin offers improved aesthetic flexibility. It can be combined with Lexan XHR sheet in matching colors for components such as personal service units, window reveals and threshold trims, thus eliminating the costs and environmental exposures of secondary painting. It can also be hard coated to enable full compliance for interior applications.
o Extem* UP thermoplastic polyimide (TPI) resins: These flame-retardant, extreme high-heat materials meet UL746B requirements at a Relative Thermal Index (RTI) of 240C, indicating retention of certain mechanical and electrical properties at this temperature over a period of 10 years. By incorporating polyetheretherketone (PEEK) into its proven ultra-performance Extem resin technology, SABIC Innovative Plastics is able to offer customers optimized performance combining the best of both materials. It offers up to five times greater flex strength and up to five times higher stiffness than unfilled PEEK at 200C. It also provides a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of up to 30% lower than unfilled PEEK. Extem UP thermoplastic resin’s high performance properties gives customers greater design freedom and efficiency, higher strength and stiffness using thinner walls to reduce material weight and costs, and tighter dimensional control for high-precision applications. This unique blend technology opens new opportunities for lower-weight, high-temperature continuous use applications such as semiconductor chip trays, connectors for harsh environments, and metal replacement in high-heat oil and gas and aircraft environments.
Biodegradable Packaging or Recycled Content?
There seems to be an emerging debate over which is a better environmental solution for plastics; is it better to make your product out of recycled content or out of biodegradable material. It seems reminiscent of the old “Paper or Plastic” debate.
Promoters of recycled content site the benefit of using second life petroleum, saved energy costs and increased support of recycling programs. They also claim that biodegradability does not add any value as all plastics should be recycled and made into new products.
On the other side, there are the debaters of biodegradable packaging, who look at the 70% or more of the plastic products that are not recycled and instead are discarded into a landfill. They claim to be using a realistic approach by looking at the reality of our current society and the customary disposal of products. They claim environmental benefit by reduced landfill space and clean energy production.
So what is one to do when determining an environmental packaging solution? Do you protect the earth by reducing our waste footprint with biodegradable packaging, or do you protect the earth by reducing the carbon and petroleum footprint through using recycled content?
In the ENSO world, we say “Why choose when you can have both!” ENSO bottles can be made out of recycled content and have the benefit of biodegradability. So in a sense, you can have your cake and eat it too!
Solid gains in bottle to bottle recycling
forward in a Canadian town called Shelburne, some 60 miles north of Toronto.
That’s where Ice River Springs, a bottled water company headquartered in Feversham, Ontario, is converting an industrial building into a PET recycling plant. This makes Ice River Springs the first bottled water company in North America to self-manufacture its own resin.
“Our goal,” says Ice River Springs president Jamie Gott, “is to eliminate our dependency upon foreign virgin PET resin by self-manufacturing recycled resin from baled post-consumer plastic purchased from Municipal Recycling Centres.”
Some pretty specialized equipment is required to purify and flake the PET that comes in from Canada’s Blue Box system. Equally specialized is the gear that converts the flake back into a food-grade product that can take the place of virgin PET. Ice River Springs is betting on AMUT S.p.A. for the sorting, cleaning, and flaking part of this process and Starlinger for the purification of the clean PET material. According to Gott, the AMUT system was judged most cost-effective and used a minimum amount of water, chemicals, and energy. Starlinger, he adds, has a Solid State Poly-condensation technology that effectively purifies PET flake and keeps energy consumption and cost to a minimum. The Starlinger system converts flake to PET pellets, which are then used to injection-mold preforms for the next generation of water bottles.
In addition to bottling its own water under its own brand, Ice River Springs also sells preforms to a major North American soft drink manufacturer in the U.S. Should that soft drink manufacturer convert to rPET preforms, the number of PET bottles made from 100% PET would rise considerably. No wonder Ice River Springs’ long-term plan includes more than 60 new full-time employees supporting the new initiative.
What’s fascinating about the new facility in Shelburne is the number of environmental benefits that ripple outward from it. For example, the bottle-to-bottle recycling process uses less energy than it takes to produce virgin PET from fossil fuels. In addition, since most virgin PET comes from Asia, the Shelburne plant will reduce consumption of fuel formerly required to bring PET from Asia to Shelburne. Moreover, Ontario recyclers will no longer need to sell their baled PET to Asia, further reducing transport-based fuel consumption. And finally, purchase of baled PET on this scale in Ontario will provide a stable demand for baled post-consumer plastic. This in turn will stabilize prices, make recycling centers more financially feasible, and will help to promote recycling and keep plastic bottles out of landfills.
Ice River Springs isn’t the only one pushing the boundaries of closed-loop recycling. Since last October, Global PET in Perris, CA, has been washing, grinding, extruding, and thermoforming PET into clamshell packages using nothing but post-consumer recycled PET. Called the Bottle Box, the innovative container has been immortalized in a YouTube video whose enthusiasm is positively infectious.
When organic material and ENSO Bottles are broken down by microbes in landfills, the decomposition process results in the creation of many gases, including methane, which can be very harmful to humans, animals and the environment if not handled properly. But methane also has the potential to be very beneficial to society if a nationwide system could be put in place to give it a practical use, such as supplying our homes with electricity.
Maybe you’ve heard the term “landfill gas.” Methane and landfill gas are not one and the same, although methane does account for roughly 40 to 60 percent of landfill gas on average; the remaining percentage is a mix of carbon dioxide and small amounts of various other elements.
Methane has its pros and cons. At room temperature and standard pressure, it’s non-toxic and odorless; however, it can be highly flammable as well as an asphyxiant, meaning it displaces all the oxygen in an enclosed space and could cause a person in the room to suffocate. Methane is also known to accelerate the breakdown of the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it can remain in the atmosphere for nine to 15 years.
But municipalities that have the means to safely harness the gases coming off landfills can put methane to work for them in a positive way. When you compare methane to the other hydrocarbon fuels, also known as fossil fuels (for example, coal and petroleum), methane produces less carbon dioxide when burned, leading many to argue it’s a greener alternative when it comes to heating homes, powering stoves or running our cars. Methane can also be converted to electricity right on-site at a landfill, providing cities with a relatively convenient and cost-effective way to add power to its electrical grid.
This is how it works: Garbage arrives at a landfill, where it’s compounded and left to decompose (1). As the microbes eat away at organic matter and other biodegradable objects, ENSO Bottles included, the process creates landfill gases (2) that enter underground pipes (3). The pipes transport these gases (4) to a facility where any and all harmful contaminants, such as mercury or sulfur, can be filtered out and neutralized. After the methane is isolated, it can be pumped into an engine (5), which powers a generator, which creates electricity (6). Cities that employ this method can add the power generated by their landfills right into their power supply grid. What city wouldn’t want such an efficient system in place?
According to the EPA, of the approximately 2,300 currently operating (or recently closed) municipal solid waste landfills in the U.S., more than 490 have wised up and utilize landfill gas energy projects — that’s up from the 395 programs that were in place at the end of 2005. And, the EPA has identified at least 515 additional landfills that would be good candidates, which would be capable of producing enough electricity to power more than 665,000 additional homes in the U.S.
Ideally, we would live in a culture of zero waste, where every product manufactured is reused, recycled or reclaimed, but the reality is, landfills are very much a part of our society and won’t be going away any time soon. So one thing we can focus on right now is supporting biodegradable products, such as the plastic bottles ENSO makes, as well as projects that reclaim energy from landfill methane in order to ensure that what we toss out as garbage will live on to heat our homes, power our vehicles and make our waste management system just that much greener.