Biodegradability is an end of life option that allows one to harness the power of microorganisms present in a selected disposal environment to completely remove plastic products designed for biodegradability from the environmental compartment via the microbial food chain in a timely, safe, and efficacious manner.¹

Designing plastics that can be completely consumed by microorganisms present in the disposal environment in a short time frame can be a safe and environmentally responsible approach for the end-of-life management of single use, disposable packaging.² That being said, when considering any bio-based resin, there are some environmental considerations one must take into account. These include: end-of-life management, complete biodegradation; its agriculturally-based feedstock; and, the energy required and the greenhouse gasses emitted during production.

Before I expand on these concepts accessible via links below, let us quickly discuss the biological processes that degradable plastics endure during biodegradation.

Microorganisms utilize carbon product to extract chemical energy for their life processes. They do so by:

1. Breaking the material (carbohydrates, carbon product) into small molecules by secreting enzymes or the environment does it.
2. Transporting the small molecules inside the microorganisms cell.
3. Oxidizing the small molecules (again inside the cell) to CO2 and water, and releasing energy that is utilized by the microorganism for its life processes in a complex biochemical process involving participation of three metabolically interrelated processes.³

If bio-based plastic packaging harnesses microbes to completely utilize the carbon substrate and remove it from the environmental compartment, entering into the microbial food chain, then biodegradability can be a good end of life option for single use disposable packaging.

Please click on the following links to learn about the different environmental considerations involved in discussions about bio-based plastics.

• End-of-life management considerations
• Complete biodegradability considerations
• Agriculturally-based feedstock considerations
• Energy requirements and fossil fuel consumption of production

Thank you for your interest in bio-based resins!

¹Ramani Narayan, “Biodegradability…” Bioplastics Magazine, Jan. 2009. Narayan is a professor from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University.
²Ibid
³Ibid

August 1, 2010:
How Green Products can win the Battle on the Retail Shelf


Soon, we will live in a world where Walmart lists a product's environmental "score" next to its price on the shelf ... where consumers will scan bar codes with their smart phones and learn exactly how green a product - and the company that makes it - really is.Until then, it's up to manufacturers to tell their environmental story, and the best place to do that is right on the product label....