Bioplastics Council Examines Opportunities for Biobased Plastics
The Bioplastics Council, a committee of SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, has released “Development of Biobased Plastics Independent of the Future of Biofuels,” a paper challenging the perception that the biobased plastics industry is inextricably linked to and dependent on the emergence of a robust biorefining industry.
The paper examines several angles and some implications which could enable biobased plastics to grow independently of biofuels. The paper also argues that a commercially viable scale for biobased plastics can be much smaller than a commercially viable scale for biofuels. The smaller scale opens up many opportunities for biobased plastics. The paper acknowledges economic, societal and environmental challenges as the biobased plastics industry develops and provides an overview of industry-driven efforts to navigate toward a future with a more sustainable biobased plastics industry.