FAIR-CT96-3070 Publication: Biopolymers as viable alternatives to common plastic materials

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Biopolymers as viable alternatives to common plastic materials

(with special focus on polylactic acid and tentative comparison with other (bio)polymers, prepared by Brussels Biotech (Galactica SA), with particular contributions from Philippe Coszach, Jean-Christophe Bogaert and Maria Naamani. July 2000.

This report was prepared as part of the deliverables of project FAIR-CT97-3070, with the aim to give a detailed description of the currently available knowledge concerning the use of polylactic acid polymers for packaging purposes, including films and bottles. It is hoped that making this information available will help solving the packaging waste problems, which constitute a serious threat to the environment. These objectives are outlined further in the introduction to the report, as follows.

INTRODUCTION

It is now widely accepted that a balance needs to be drawn between the nations' economic development and the necessity to keep our environment safe and productive. It all boils down to what is now referred to as the sustainable development principles. Sustainable development has been defined in different ways but, all in all, the basic concepts remain the some : applying economic development approaches that are cost-effective and also benefit the environment and people's quality of life.

The scope of sustainable development is thus fairly broad as it encompasses new production processes and new services that meet today's and future needs and expectations of society without harming the environment. In this sense, it must consider economic, environmental and cultural aspects of the human communities involved.

As for the environmental aspect, since many years, alarms have been raised concerning the pollution burden imposed by a rather disordered development rate of the human activity. For instance, in certain developing countries, where no garbage collection is organised, the advent of conventional plastic usage for utensils and packaging has created an extremely serious environmental problem because items are disposed of more or less carelessly and will remain where it has been dropped for many years to come. In more industrialised nations, the problem is only displaced as wastes are either sent to landfills or incinerated; the nuisance is not solved by the some token.

People have become accustomed to buying their food in clean, nicely designed packaging, using detergents bottled in handy plastic containers or personal hygiene products which are not disposable. All these improvements are here to stay because they are convenient but there is another, less desirable, side to this coin in that they are adding enormous volumes to household wastes because they are of the 'single-use' type and must thus be disposed of after being used for a relatively short time.

The problem is not the convenience of the product but the sheer impossibility to discard it in a way that does not add to the glut of landfills or does not contribute to air and water pollution or provokes untimely, detrimental climate changes. Conventional, oil-based plastic materials, because of their inherent durability, are among the main culprits of today's environmental problems. If no action is taken, they will also contribute, even more significantly, to tomorrow's ones.

The answer seems remarkably simple : make plastics which have a shorter life without compromising their most desirable and useful properties. However, the way to achieve this is not as easy as it may seem. During the last decade, and even before, considerable R&D efforts have been directed at coming up with a viable alternative to conventional plastics. Progress, albeit slow and sometimes fragmentary, have been recorded in some areas, but is only recently that a real breakthrough has been achieved. Early during this century, we will watch the advent of a whole range of new plastic materials which will pose no thread to the environment whilst providing the some or better properties as their conventional, oil-based cousins.

Poly(lactic acid), PLA, possibly with a few other biopolymers, is among the most promising of these new materials because it is entirely biodegradable, for instance by composting, returning its natural building blocks to nature's life-cycle, and providing properties which are equivalent or better than those of today's plastic materials.

Therefore, this report will concentrate on PLA materials, not ignoring however the possible environmental benefits of other biopolymers.

We are of the opinion that PLA will be a major contributor to efforts made everywhere to clean and protect our environment and, in the same way, help establish the basis of a sustainable development.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Foreword and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Glossary

Chapter I The Packaging Dilemma

• Introduction
• post-users plastic waste
• distribution of plastics in municipal waste dumps
• efforts by the industry to reduce the volume of plastics used for packaging
• current attempts to deal with the accumulation of plastic materials in waste dumps

• mechanical recycling
• incineration
• landfilling
• composting

• impact of existing techniques on public health

• incineration
• landfilling
• composting

• impact of existing techniques on the environment

• incineration
• landfilling
• composting

• cost comparison of incineration, landfilling and recycling
• the current plastic waste stream
• the case of biodegradable polymers

• starch
• cellulose
• polypeptides
• poly(lactic) acid (PLA)

• standardisation procedures and the green legislation
• summary and conclusions
• waste cycle of packaging materials

Chapter II oil-based polymers commonly used for packaging purposes

• about polymers in general
• plastic usage by industrial sector
• about synthetic polymers used for packaging purposes

• polyethylene
• polyethylene terephtalate
• polypropylene
• polyvinyl chloride
• polystyrene

• mechanical and thermal properties of the main synthetic polymers

Chapter III The biodegradable polymers

• about biodegradable polymers in general
• assets and liabilities of biopolymers
• the PLA entire production cycle
• mechanical properties of PLA
• applications and properties of PLA
• benefits derived from the use of PLA
• PLA a versatile material
• PLA the sustainable alternative
• PLA strategic importance for the EU
• PLA upgrade of the environment
• PLA a solution to the agricultural surplus headache
• Producers and capacities
• About other biodegradable polymers

• starch-based
• cellulose derivatives
• protein plastics
• polycaprolactone (PCL)
• polyhydroxyalkanoates

• list of biodegradable plastics manufacturers

• Cargill-Dow (ECOPLA)
• Mitsui Toatsu Chemical
• Shimadzu Corp.
• Galactic Laboratories
• Biotec (BIOPLAST, BIOFLEX)
• Zeneca (BIOPOL)
• BASF (ECOFLEX)
• Wolff Walsrode (Bayer) (WALOCOMP)
• Biomer (BIOMER)
• Dupont (BIOMAX)
• EPG (EPG POLYMERS)
• Eastman (EASTAR BIO)
• Orex (OREX and EnviroGuard)
• Idroplast (HYDROLENE)
• Kanebo (LACTRON)
• Novamont (MATER-BI)
• Mazzucchelli (BIOCETA)
• Metabolix (METABOLIX PHA)
• Novon (ECOSTAR)
• Solvay (CAPA)

Chapter IV Estimating the PLA market

• existing and potential market for PLA-based products
• comparing PLA and other plastics prices
• estimating the market size for biodegradable plastics
• market for oil-based packaging plastics
• PLA forecasted market share

Conclusion

• Annex 1 Typical PLA applications
• Annex 2 Bibliography

Contacts

To Order

• Philippe COSZACH / Galactic BELGIUM