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APPLIED BIOPLASTICS A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN C ELLULOSE PROCESSING VIEW CONTRIBUTOR’S BIO
SDGs Let’s talk about the economic expansion driven by plastic over the last century. Planes, trains, and automobiles; toys, tools, and technology, all cheaper, lighter, more accessible to more people. Plastic is an amazing invention, and that’s why, even though it’s already everywhere, demand for plastic is still growing faster than the expansion of the human race. It enables our growth, and vice versa— when economies expand to include more people, those people demand more plastic. One of the primary downsides of this incredible growth is a major negative externality - a large volume of carbon emissions associated with the plastic’s production. In 2015, plastic production accounted for 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions. If projections hold, emissions will reach 6.5 billion metric tons per year by 2050 - over 15% of the total budget. Of particular concern is polypropylene-- it makes up a staggering 23% of all plastic produced annually. Yet most biopolymer companies are focused on reducing single use plastics like LDPE and PET, which leaves a major hole in the sustainable plastics market. Currently, the only alternatives available to durable goods manufacturers are either sold at a huge premium-- wiping out the main advantage of polypropylene: it’s cheap!-- or require extensive changes to the methods they use to manufacture everyday items. Manufacturing is already a low-margin business, so forcing unwelcome change on that industry would drastically change the price and availability of the durable products that everyone on the planet uses.
