Corny Packaging

It is hard to ignore all the talk that has been going on around environmental protection, sustainability and the mindset that each person should do their part to reduce their personal carbon footprint. So naturally, we have been trying our best to think of steps that we can take to be more environmentally friendly. I think we all would like to have clean air to breathe, potable water and the comfort of knowing that Mt. Kilimanjaro will still be distinguishable from the sand dunes of the Sahara ten years from now.

This brings me to the idea of bioplastics. What are bioplastics, you ask? They are plastics made from corn and other plants, that have been creating buzz in a variety of industries, including the food business. The idea is similar to using Ethanol (corn based fuel) as an alternative to gas, except in this case, bioplastics would replace petroleum-based plastics. The other major benefit to bioplastics is that in some cases, they can be completely biodegradable. Supporters of Ethanol and bioplastics emphasize that these materials would reduce our reliance on oil. Dissenters argue that bioplastics aren't necessarily any "greener" than the conventional plastics produced today, since the manufacturing process for bioplastics produces CO2 emissions and natural resources are used to grow the crops.

PRODUCTS MADE FROM BIOPLASTICS (as seen on www.treehugger.com)



Utensils composed of Cereplast, a biodegradable resin made from corn and potato starch.




The front panels on this Sony Walkman are made from corn-based plastic.




This biodegradable tape was developed by German researchers.

Although there are currently only several producers of bioplastics in the U.S., the number of companies is steadily growing. The development of bioplastics is still at its early stages and can be controversial, I think they do fill a need. I was suprised to learn that only 6% of all plastics produced in the U.S. in 2005 was actually recycled. That is a disappointing figure. Part of the problem is that we are consuming more bottled water than ever before, but aren't recycling the bottles at anywhere near the same rate. I'm curious to know if bioplastics might be able to help us deal with this problem.

Chemical companies based outside the U.S. are also working on the bioplastics initiative. And already, there are plenty of products that either contain bioplastics or are packaged in bioplastics material, such as the ones above. It appears that bioplastics are just as versatile as their conventional petroleum based cousins. Perhaps the American Plastics Council will change their to "bioplastics make it possible." That may be a bit presumptuous, but probably not completely out of left field. And who knows, if biodegradable packaging made from corn is already available, ten years from now, completely edible packaging might be all the rage!