Plastics

– Nature’s Guardian, Our Benefactor

….. & Polluting Biohazard!

John Wesley Hyatt won $10,000 to find a substitute for the ivory that was once in high demand to make billiard balls for the popular sport. The demand for ivory as well as other natural products such as tortoiseshell, horn and linen was depleting natural resources. People wanted alternatives to help save nature. This happened in 1869 and Hyatt had discovered how to make plastics. His invention provided a revolutionary, nature-saving solution.

Hyatt’s plastic could be crafted into a variety of shapes and made to imitate many natural substances. Industry could now create many new materials to reduce the depletion of the natural world.  Advertisements of the day praised Hyatt’s plastic as the saviour of the elephant and the tortoise.

Ironic isn’t it!

Between 2010 and 2020, the global production of plastics increased from 270 million metric tons to almost 370 million metric tons. The global plastic market was valued at 580 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and it is anticipated grow considerable over the next decades. Key players in plastic markets include ExxonMobil, Sinopec, and LyondellBasell.

The above chart shows that by 2019, the world had produced 9.5 billion tonnes of plastic

— more than one tonne of plastic for every person alive today.

We need plastics. They are critical to modern life and without them computers, cell phones and most of the lifesaving advances of modern medicine would not be possible. Without plastics many possessions that we now take for granted would be out of reach for all but the richest.

But plastics are dangerous pollutants. The plastics threat to human health focuses on additives such bisphenol A [BPA] and phthalates. These chemicals leach out of plastics and enter our food, water and bodies. They disrupt the endocrine system. We are waiting to see what cumulative damage they will do to children and future generations.

In 2022, studies conducted in the Netherlands showed for the first time ever that microplastics were present in the blood of 22 healthy human volunteers at an average concentration of 1.6 mg/L. The kinds of plastics detected varied greatly, and including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used to make water bottles and other items; polyethylene, used to produce food containers; and polystyrene, whose uses include fresh produce packaging and yogurt pots.

Plastics also cause significant damage to the marine life that gets entangled in netting or ingests it to fill stomachs and then starve. Plastics hazards will not go away any time soon.

The Citarum River in Indonesia

Plastics for better or worse are significant in our lives. It seems we cannot live with them or without them. So, what can we do?

We can recycle and dispose of plastics more carefully. Kohei Oda, for example, at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan discovered “Ideonella sakaiensis”. This is a bacterium that not only breaks down plastics but loves doing so – PET plastics are Ideonella’s main source of food.

The latest generation of enzymes break down plastics at the molecular level, so it is possible to reuse the plastics without any loss in quality, making for an almost circular plastic bioeconomy.

Plastics on the Menu!

Imagine legions of bacteria scouring the planet and cleaning up plastic pollution on our behalf. Wonderful!

Or is it?

Emily Flashman at the University of Oxford considers the possibility of micro-Frankenstein monsters. If we consider what natural life has been doing for aeons, she argues, the plastic-eating bacteria will evolve – and they might just develop an appetite for other forms of plastic – those in our computers, phones, medical technology, cars, aeroplanes…..!

Perhaps the ultimate solution is not to make problematic, long-life plastics in the first place. There are many alternatives now available such as:

• Organic Cotton Shopping Bags;
• Bamboo Toothbrushes but pluck out the nylon bristles before you recycle;
• Steel lunch boxes;
• Natural organic cotton, hemp and bamboo material fibres to replace synthetic ones;
• Shampoo & Toilet Soap Bars to replace liquid ones in plastic containers;
• Beeswax Food Wraps; and
• Reusable Silicone Food and Steamer Bags.

Or, if we still need plastics, let’s make them differently. There are many plastics now available from surprising, non-fossil fuel sources such as:

Olive Pits

A Turkish startup called Biolive makes bioplastic granules from olive seeds that can decompose in one year. These granules act just like fossil fuel-based plastics so plastic producers can simply substitute the conventional granules without disruption.

Sunflower Husks

Golden Compound in Turkey has created a Sustainable Sunflower Plastic Compound, S²PC, which is 100% recyclable. S²PC bioplastic can make everything from office furniture to transport and storage boxes and crates, coffee capsules, plant pots and coffee mugs.  

Fish Waste and Algae

A UK company called MarinaTex binds fish skin and scales with red algae to make a plastic alternative to replace many single-use plastics such as bakery bags and sandwich packs. MarinaTex’s plastic bags are stronger than conventional ones and are home compostable, breaking down within four to six weeks.

Plant Sugars

Avantium in Amsterdam has created a process that converts plant-based sugars into a biodegradable material called polyethylene furanoate or PEF. This material degrades fast in 250-400 days instead of the existing 300-500 years. PEF is used as packaging material, textiles, films, and drinks containers. Avantium have collaborated with the Carlsberg brewery to create 100% bio-based beer bottles.

Mushrooms 

MycoWorks has developed a resilient and biodegradable fungal mycelia-based materials called Reishi which is water-resistant, possessing the quality and aesthetics of leather or synthetic plastic materials, but with a negative carbon footprint and no toxic by-products.

An Ooho! Drinks Sphere

Elastic Membranes

Ooho! is a bubble created by Notpla/Skipping Rocks Lab in London. It is made from a seaweed and calcium chloride gel that forms an elastic membrane to retains liquids. There is an inner and protective outer sphere. We can nip the spheres and drink carefully or peel it, pop the inner sphere into our mouths, bite and drink the liquid down – the inner sphere is 100% edible. An Ooho! sphere can be used to contain a range of liquids, including soft drinks and spirits and even cosmetics. Lucozade hosted an Ooho! refreshment stand to deliver its beverage to runners in a London half-marathon.

Biopolymers

Teysha Technologies have developed AggiePol®, a versatile biopolycarbonate made from natural feedstocks that is readily biodegradable into natural, non-harmful sugars. AggiePol® is a technically and economically viable alternative to petroleum-based polycarbonate plastics and their many, world-wide applications. It is a “plug-and-play” system where various modifications can change the properties of the final polymer to provide a variety of final products that can vary from hard and stiff materials to soft which can be directly used in existing plant machinery.

Wood

There is much more to wood than planks, carvings and carpentry. “The Future is made of trees!” so says Södra the Swedish forest products company. The company maintains sustainable forests across Sweden using a democratic association of 53,000 forest-owning members, the largest private landowner group in Southern Sweden.

Södra and paper and technical fibres manufacturer James Cropper have created a lightweight, biodegradable alternative to plastic called DuraPulp. It can carry the weight of an adult and be composted within 100 days. Södra and James Cropper are working together to establish DuraPulp in luxury fashion, cosmetics, automotive and interior design sectors.

In the University of British Columbia, Dr Feng Jiang has developed a biodegradable cellulose film that looks like plastic and behaves like plastic. Dr Jiang’s method breaks down wood fibres with sodium hydroxide to create a translucent, strong and water-resistant film. It is a process that uses small amounts of energy and chemicals in the manufacture. The product can be used to make coffee bags or chip bags, food pouches or protective wraps like bubble wrap or envelopes. After use, the film can be buried in the ground where it will break down within three weeks.

But this is just the start of Smart Wood applications. How about driving with wooden car windscreens?

A study conducted by the Institute of Wood Science and Technology in Bangalore shows that transparent wood is a more sustainable replacement for many forms of plastic. Transparent wood is already used by several industries, but the new study shows how it can replace petroleum-based plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This means it can be used to make such as car windshields, transparent packaging, biomedical devices and much more.

Incidentally, the material is already commercially available as a replacement for glass for which it provides a lighter, more durable and better-insulated alternative for applications in electronics, green energy and construction.

And how about a wood- based ‘super material’? It is a nanocellulose and it has many uses from reinforcing paper, thickening cosmetics and food, wound healing, making energy-conducting paper, packaging, and bio-based electronics. The Swedish research institute, RISE, is looking at how to use nanocellulose to 3D-print stem cells to produce new bone tissue. RISE is also spinning  nanocellulose threads to create a fibre stronger than spider silk – the strongest material in nature. Spun nanocellulose from wood could be widely used as the future lightweight material of choice in cars, aircraft, furniture, textiles and construction.

Nanocellulose

Finally, do not assume that plastic alternatives mean that we can carry on as usual. Some alternatives are better than others and there is much “greenwashing” about. Using less stuff is always the numero uno alternative.

1. Avoid throw away’s altogether! Remember the waste hierarchy – waste avoidance and reduction at the top, followed by reuse and recycle, and disposal as the least preferable option.
2. Bioplastics will find you, even if you don’t seek them out and read the fine print and re-use them where you can of if they’re certified compostable, do it.
3. Watch out for vague or misleading language and check that bioplastics are responsible made and certified.

(You can find out more by searching the Intrinsic Earth Knowledge Database. Home (intrinsicearth.org)