Should Bioplastic Be Used to Replace Petroleum Based Plastics in Packaging?
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MATRICULATION
2CME20 – CHEMISTRY
ISSUE INVESTIGATION
Should Bioplastic be Used to Replace Petroleum Based Plastic in packaging?
Name : Chang Wei Yang
Group : G2
Introduction
Plastics, which are utilized heavily in packaging from areas such as product wrappers to food wrapping illustrate that versatile plastic is an essential part of our lives. However, with the threat of global warming on the horizon, as well as the depletion of fossil fuels used in the production of these plastics, there has been an outcry for a greener alternative to plastic. Hence, bioplastics have emerged as a promising option to replace conventional plastic packaging to mitigate our addiction to oil and lessen our environmental impact. Unlike typical plastics, bioplastics are derived from 100% natural materials such as corn, potato and sugarcane. Often referred to by their chemical constituent such as polylactide(PLA) or polyhydroxylalkanoate(PHA/PHB), (Vidal,2008) the bioplastics industry uses words such as ‘sustainable’, biodegradable, and compostable to depict their products, stating that bioplastics create carbon savings of 30%-80% compared to traditional oil-based plastics. Recently, there has been a great advancement in development of bioplastics and biodegradable and compostable packaging. (Thomas White Global Investing, 2010)Also, the bioplastics industry which just produced 200,000 tons in 2006 will expand to about 5 million tons in 2015 affirms the Germany-based Helmut Kaiser Consultancy.
Chemical Background
By definition, plastics are polymers, large molecules consisting of chains or rings of connected monomer units. Bioplastics are biopolymers derived from renewable biomass sources rather petroleum and can also be designed to be biodegradable although not all are. No variety of bioplastic possesses a particular molecular formula, since each class of bioplastic consists of a combination of polymers, plasticizer and additives in varying
2CME20 – CHEMISTRY
ISSUE INVESTIGATION
Should Bioplastic be Used to Replace Petroleum Based Plastic in packaging?
Name : Chang Wei Yang
Group : G2
Introduction
Plastics, which are utilized heavily in packaging from areas such as product wrappers to food wrapping illustrate that versatile plastic is an essential part of our lives. However, with the threat of global warming on the horizon, as well as the depletion of fossil fuels used in the production of these plastics, there has been an outcry for a greener alternative to plastic. Hence, bioplastics have emerged as a promising option to replace conventional plastic packaging to mitigate our addiction to oil and lessen our environmental impact. Unlike typical plastics, bioplastics are derived from 100% natural materials such as corn, potato and sugarcane. Often referred to by their chemical constituent such as polylactide(PLA) or polyhydroxylalkanoate(PHA/PHB), (Vidal,2008) the bioplastics industry uses words such as ‘sustainable’, biodegradable, and compostable to depict their products, stating that bioplastics create carbon savings of 30%-80% compared to traditional oil-based plastics. Recently, there has been a great advancement in development of bioplastics and biodegradable and compostable packaging. (Thomas White Global Investing, 2010)Also, the bioplastics industry which just produced 200,000 tons in 2006 will expand to about 5 million tons in 2015 affirms the Germany-based Helmut Kaiser Consultancy.
Chemical Background
By definition, plastics are polymers, large molecules consisting of chains or rings of connected monomer units. Bioplastics are biopolymers derived from renewable biomass sources rather petroleum and can also be designed to be biodegradable although not all are. No variety of bioplastic possesses a particular molecular formula, since each class of bioplastic consists of a combination of polymers, plasticizer and additives in varying