Here are more green plastic news from last week. Incidentally, I am
preparing for a bioplastic article for ICIS Chemical Business so watch
out for that in June.
First stop is Coca-Cola's
announcement of its new plant-based plastic bottle, 30% of which is
made from sugar cane and molasses. The rest of the plastic is
petroleum-based polyethylene (PET).
The company said the 100% recyclable plastic bottle can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling facilities without contaminating traditional PET. Coca-Cola North America will pilot the "PlantBottle™" with Dasani and sparkling brands in select markets later this year and with VitaminWater in 2010.
Bioplastic manufacturer Metabolix, meanwhile, got proof that their plastic is compostable in Europe. The company's Mirel™ bioplastic resins received the Vinçotte certification of "OK Compost" for compostability in an industrial composting unit and "OK Compost HOME" for compostability in home composting systems. Hmmm, only ok?? No great, plantastic, or plantabulous???
First stop is Coca-Cola's
announcement of its new plant-based plastic bottle, 30% of which is
made from sugar cane and molasses. The rest of the plastic is
petroleum-based polyethylene (PET).The company said the 100% recyclable plastic bottle can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling facilities without contaminating traditional PET. Coca-Cola North America will pilot the "PlantBottle™" with Dasani and sparkling brands in select markets later this year and with VitaminWater in 2010.
Bioplastic manufacturer Metabolix, meanwhile, got proof that their plastic is compostable in Europe. The company's Mirel™ bioplastic resins received the Vinçotte certification of "OK Compost" for compostability in an industrial composting unit and "OK Compost HOME" for compostability in home composting systems. Hmmm, only ok?? No great, plantastic, or plantabulous???
Metabolix
said the Belgium-based Vinçotte is widely recognized in Europe for
materials inspection, certification, assessments and technical training.
Another bioplastic manufacturer Cereplast said its Hybrid Resins® is going to be used in juvenile furniture products such as a bathtub, potty, booster and step stool by Dorel Juvenile Group. Dorel's Safety 1ST Nature Next™ products line will be sold in hundreds of stores nationwide including Wal-Mart.
Meanwhile, Bio-Tec Environmental is working to make traditional petroleum-based plastic green with its additive EcoPure. The company said it just completed a new round of testing on its EcoPure, which turns regular plastic into biodegradable plastic.
The company tested polypropylene, PVC, PE and EVA at an independent lab, and the results are said to indicate that EcoPure makes plastics biodegrade in a microbial rich environment, when used at a .7% concentration.
Finally, researchers from Iowa State University (ISU) are investigating how certain varieties of battlefield-generated waste plastics can boost the power output of biodiesel, which can fuel military base generators. The U.S. Army initiated the research with General Atomics, Renewable Energy Group Inc. and ISU to investigate which plastic materials (such as styrofoam) best dissolve into biodiesel, and how stationary engines perform when running on the polymer-rich fuel.
[Photo credit from Coca-Cola, Dorel Juvenile Group, and ISU]
Another bioplastic manufacturer Cereplast said its Hybrid Resins® is going to be used in juvenile furniture products such as a bathtub, potty, booster and step stool by Dorel Juvenile Group. Dorel's Safety 1ST Nature Next™ products line will be sold in hundreds of stores nationwide including Wal-Mart.
Meanwhile, Bio-Tec Environmental is working to make traditional petroleum-based plastic green with its additive EcoPure. The company said it just completed a new round of testing on its EcoPure, which turns regular plastic into biodegradable plastic.
The company tested polypropylene, PVC, PE and EVA at an independent lab, and the results are said to indicate that EcoPure makes plastics biodegrade in a microbial rich environment, when used at a .7% concentration.
Finally, researchers from Iowa State University (ISU) are investigating how certain varieties of battlefield-generated waste plastics can boost the power output of biodiesel, which can fuel military base generators. The U.S. Army initiated the research with General Atomics, Renewable Energy Group Inc. and ISU to investigate which plastic materials (such as styrofoam) best dissolve into biodiesel, and how stationary engines perform when running on the polymer-rich fuel.
"If you take a Styrofoam cup and drop it into room-temperature biodiesel, it will dissolve in a couple minutes, but Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or soda bottles, will not dissolve," said Iowa State professor Balaji Narasimhan. "Some garbage bags and containers for meals ready to eat (MREs) also dissolve into biodiesel."According to Biodiesel magazine, engine tests thus far have only successfully used biodiesel with polystyrene--in concentrations of 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 percent and 10 percent.
[Photo credit from Coca-Cola, Dorel Juvenile Group, and ISU]
ENSO Bottles announced that they will be launching thier PET with EcoPure PET bottles to the U.S. market later this month. This will allow both small and large bottling companies to implement a true biodegradable PET bottle. Plus when the bottles biodegrade in a landfill the methane is used for producing clean energy.
Interesting article.
Hi Danny,
So does this mean the ENSO PET bottles are both biodegradable and recyclable? How long will it degrade completely? Is biodegradable different from compostable?
Doris,
the terminology around bioplastics is confusing to say the least. Biodegradable plastics degrade according to some standard but they could be fossil-derived or plant-derived.
The EU standard refers to 'industrial' composting at high temperature >60 degrees. Compostable is used often loosely by companies.
There are some bioplastics which are 'home compostable' which means no need for high temperature, it will work in your back garden compost heap. That is the OK Compost Home standard, which is not an official EU one.
I cannot see recycling companies being at all keen on a biodegradable PET when at least in EU PET is one of the few plastic types that is recycled at scale.
You might like the magazine I write for although it is rather UK-centric (shameless plug coming up). It is called the ENDS Report and I wrote all about bioplastics in our March issue. www.endsreport.com
These companies are going to have it rough.
See this ICIS article, "US PET packaging group cautions against degradable additives"
http://www.icis.com/Articles/2009/05/28/9220348/US-PET-packaging-group-cautions-against-degradable-additives.html