Bioplastic: The Future Plastic?

Plastic is a huge problem in our world. In total, throughout their lifecycle, plastics are responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the 1960s, plastic began to gain popularity as the ubiquitous material, which was cheap, versatile, and easy to make. However, now we know the truth. The truth is, while plastic is a material that can be used for many things, it is a nightmare and absolutely awful for the environment. As John Doerr addresses it, “Plastic pollutes twice: when it’s made and when it’s discarded.”

One potential solution to this is bioplastics. You’re probably thinking, “Duh, if plastic is the problem, switch to bioplastic. It’s organic, biodegradable, and it already exists — no crazy innovations needed.” See, the problem is, yes it does exist, but many bioplastics are not biodegradable and organic, and many are even more harmful to the environment than single-use plastic.

First let’s look into the excessive carbon emissions from bioplastics. Many bioplastics result in more harmful effects and emissions compared to regular plastics. To see the full effects of bioplastics, you need to account for: the fertilizer, pesticides, deforestation, and land usage to grow the crops for bioplastic, as well as the chemical process used to convert the organic matter to plastic. Additionally, there is also the petroleum that will be used to run the farm machinery. All of these things just add to the carbon emissions from the production of bioplastics. Furthermore, the vast areas of land used to make crops for bioplastics could instead be used to produce crops to feed people. Climate change is a pressing problem, however, we should not be exacerbating other issues, like world hunger, in trying to solve it.

Next, let’s address the biodegradability of bioplastics. As a quick definition, biodegradable means something that is capable of being broken down or decomposed by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. Coca-Cola tried experimenting with bottles using 70% petroleum and 30% ethanol (which came from sugarcane). This still resulted in a plastic bottle that took hundreds of years to decompose. So, this attempt turned out to be a flop. However, while this experiment failed, biodegradable bioplastics do exist, such as starch or cellulose-based, however, they come with their own set of problems. The necessary high temperature industrial facilities needed to properly dispose of bioplastics are not available in many cities, especially when you consider much lower-income cities and countries, where there is not even proper healthcare or accessible clean water. This often results in bioplastics ending up in landfills which can deprive them of oxygen and potentially cause them to release methane, a greenhouse gas which has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. If bioplastics are not discarded properly, it can also contaminate batches of recycled plastic and recycling infrastructure.

Lastly, in addition to all of these harms, the price of most bioplastics, while on the decline, is still relatively expensive, making it infeasible for many. Bioplastics are definitely a potential green solution, but more research and regulation needs to be put in place regarding the emissions from growing the crops, converting them to plastic, and making the disposal infrastructure widely available.

One promising solution to the current setbacks of bioplastic is converting wastewater and solid waste into biodegradable bioplastic, which is being worked on by Kartik Chandran and Columbia students. The method for doing this is first putting the wastewater in a bioreactor, and microorganisms, inside the bioreactor, convert the waste’s organic carbon into volatile fatty acids. An example of a volatile fatty acid is acetic acid, which is found in vinegar. After the first bioreactor, the excess is sent to a second bioreactor where plastic-producing bacteria feed on the volatile fatty acids and, in turn, produce bioplastic. Some of the benefits of wastewater to bioplastic conversion is that it incorporates waste into the process, as Chandran is considering different ways to use solid food waste and human waste as well. Furthermore, this model is thought to be more economical, compared to traditional bioplastics, which need purchased sugars. “If you integrate wastewater treatment or address food waste challenges with bioplastic production, then this is quite favorable [economically],” said Chandran. By doing this, the food waste and water treatment challenges are being addressed and there is profit from making bioplastics.

Bioplastics are definitely a step in the right direction, however we need to work on finding greener, more accessible ways to produce and dispose of them, or else their supposed benefits could actually lead to many negative impacts. Chandran has a promising innovation and there are many others like this out there. If these new methods can be implemented at a large scale, in a way that is economical and accessible, including the facilities needed to discard them, bioplastics could very well be the future of plastic.