Here\u2019s the \u201cWe\u2019ve Got a Big Problem\u201d slide that we often see at the beginning of presentations in this space, especially the good ones. Hollywood movies sometimes begin with the meet cute, but the blockbusters usually begin with the problem \u2014 arrival of the villain \u2014 ever since Darth Vader appeared 2:40 into the opening scenes of Star Wars and changed movies forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this case, the villain is fossil-based plastics. Unlike Vader, there are some props given for the incredible performance that plastics have. They really do change the world, and if you notice in this age of climate sensitivity, people were reaching for plastics at every step during COVID to offer barrier protection against COVID, from wrapped masks to the plastics used in all the online deliveries that took place in the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here we have the tale of the tape. An unacceptable carbon footprint, a supply chain dominated by fossil raw ingredients, an explosion of usage, resulting in the predictable landfill crisis, and now we have a new and cruel twist, the rapid increase of plastics in the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By slide three, we are introduced to PEF, which readers familiar with the Avantium story and to some extent the DuPont FDCA story will have some background. PEF is a clear plastic, biobased as you see here, with notes that it is recyclable (well, so is fossil plastic), yet also compostable and biodegradable. We will usually interject with the Due Diligence Wolfpack question at this point, biodegrades into what, exactly? If it degrades to methane, you\u2019d rather have it carbon-stored as a plastic. After all, there is carbon in there, and people have been wondering around injecting carbon into oil wells and caves, hoping that it will stay there for 50-100 years or more. That\u2019s carbon storage, in a nutshell. To some extent, so\u2019s old plastic, a form of carbon storage, that is. Just to make the point that biodegrading is not a total no-brainer win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there\u2019s something nice about PEF, that\u2019s not mentioned here. Not only does it form a great see-through barrier, it works very well with small-scale liquids. Ever notice that there are lots of 16 ounce plastic bottles, but no 4 ounce ones? That\u2019s because the clear plastic bottle incumbent, PET, doesn\u2019t perform so well at small scale. PEF does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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