Over the past 20 years I\u2019ve written much about the efforts of polymer scientists to create a plastic that will \u201cdisappear\u201d in the environment. No matter how much money is spent on research, though, the dream of biodegradable polymers has proven elusive.<\/p>\n
An article in the business section of the Wall Street Journal on March 20, 2021, by Saabira Chaudhuri (\u201cPlastic Straws That Quickly Biodegrade in the Ocean? Not Quite, Scientists Say\u201d) takes an in-depth look at why biodegradability might not offer the solutions promised. Chaudhuri begins by examining Danimer Scientific\u2019s Nodax, which the company claims degrades within a \u201cfew months\u201d in ocean environments and is suitable for backyard composting.
\nSensationalized claims?<\/p>\n
Danimer\u2019s customers for Nodax include Nestl\u00e9, Bacardi, PepsiCo, and, most recently, Mars Wrigley for its Skittles candy packaging. Danimer\u2019s marketing materials claim that bottles made of Nodax will \u201cdisappear\u201d in 18 months. I\u2019ve written about all of these partnerships that Danimer has developed over the past two years, but I\u2019m still not sold.<\/p>\n
Apparently neither is Professor Jason Locklin, a \u201cdistinguished polymer scientist\u201d according to his profile at the University of Georgia (UGA), where he teaches. In the WSJ article, he called Danimer\u2019s claims for Nodax \u201csensationalized.\u201d Locklin directs UGA\u2019s New Materials Institute, and even co-authored a study cited by Danimer as \u201cvalidating its materials,\u201d wrote Chaudhuri. Additionally, Locklin commented in Chaudhuri\u2019s article that \u201cmaking broad claims about Nodax\u2019s biodegradability \u2018is not accurate . . . I think that\u2019s greenwashing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As far back as 2010, when I attended the SPE Thermoforming Conference, Michigan State University professor Ramani Narayan, who has a 30-year history of researching biodegradable plastics, commented that promises of \u201cdisappearing\u201d materials made through an industrial process are not guaranteed. Due to variability in the environment, it is very difficult to promise an 18-month biodegradability time frame, Narayan said. \u201cAll of this biodegradable stuff sounds good. The public loves it! But, I ask, in what environment will this degrade? Define environment. The word \u2019biodegradable\u2019 means nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime? Eventually it will biodegrade, but when? Is some biodegradability better than nothing? No!\u201d Narayan added. \u201cThere are serious health and environmental issues connected with biodegradability. It\u2019s all or nothing \u2014 it must be defined in terms of the environment and time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaudhuri also shared viewpoints from Narayan in her WSJ article. His perspective on biodegradability hasn\u2019t changed much over the past 11 years.
\nGeorgia on the mind of PHA resin producers<\/p>\n
Georgia seems to be attractive to companies developing biodegradable PHA plastic, primarily because of the university\u2019s New Materials Institute. On May 5, 2020, numerous reports were published in more than a dozen financial newspapers and business and industry trade publications regarding Singapore-based RWDC\u2019s decision to invest $260 million in a factory in Athens, GA. The accompanying photo shows RWDC co-founder Daniel Carraway with UGA researchers Branson W. Ritchie and Jason Locklin, whose comments to Chaudhuri regarding Danimer were less than complimentary.<\/p>\n
According to several articles and RWDC\u2019s website, $40 million was invested in a 400,000-sq-ft building that will become RWDC\u2019s global headquarters. Singapore will be the regional headquarters for the company\u2019s eventual expansion into Asia. Another $220 million will be invested in Athens on the first \u201cmodule\u201d that would produce 5,000 tons of PHA resin by the end of 2020, \u201cat which point construction will begin on the first of four 25,000-ton production lines with the facility reaching full capacity by late 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, since the flurry of articles that appeared over a two-day period last May, I\u2019ve been unable to find any updates as to whether RWDC has reached its 5,000-ton PHA production schedule by the end of December, as suggested in the May announcements. I have sent two e-mails to Locklin, asking him to explain his skepticism toward Nodax\u2019s biodegradability and his belief that it\u2019s \u201cgreenwashing,\u201d while having no comments about RWDC\u2019s PHA. As of this writing, I\u2019ve not heard back from the good professor and distinguished polymer scientist.<\/p>\n
With skepticism growing over biodegradable and compostable polymers as sustainable solutions to the plastic waste challenge, will these materials \u2014 in particular PHA \u2014 ever become more than just niche products? That\u2019s a question the industry \u2013 and its investors \u2013 need to answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, these materials will degrade over time. But how long will it take? And under what environmental conditions?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[16380,5838],"supplier":[2979,5316,21310,1775],"class_list":["post-87108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biobased","tag-bioeconomy","supplier-danimer-scientific","supplier-mars","supplier-nestle","supplier-pepsico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87108"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=87108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}