Plant Based Plastics!

I’ve been hearing about it: Plant based plastics, also being touted as “environmentally friendly” plastics.  I am skeptical to believe anything I read without a little investigation.  What makes them environmentally friendly?  Are they actually green?  Will they put an end to my plastic boycott?  What’s the deal?

Coca Cola has a 30% plant based plastic bottle, Heinz is jumping on that bandwagon, and just this week, Pepsi announced that they've created the first ever 100% plant based bottle!  (They’re calling it “No Plastic,” which seems to be a bit of a stretch – no pun intended.)  The competition over environmental friendliness intensifies.

Okay, so I’ve done a little researching, and understand that the process is new and there’s not public information out there yet on this specific process, as far as I know.  (Disclaimer!) So here are my findings…

Bioplastic is biodegradable.  Or is it?  Plastics made from plants or other biological materials, are touted by How Stuff Works  as “biodegradable and better for the environment.”  (http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm)  Yet, according to USA Today, the plant based plastic which Pepsi’s created “is not biodegradable or compostable.”  At least it’s recyclable. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-03-15-pepsi-natural-bottle.htm)  So is regular PET plastic (#1 on the bottom of your bottle).  So far, not much difference.  Just another plastic that will be thrown out by most and stick around for centuries.  (Neutral Finding)

One Pittsburg study claims that bioplastics are not only as bad, but maybe even worse for the environment than regular plastics. The refining and production process create a lot of toxic bi-products. (http://www.news.pitt.edu/news/Landis_polymers_LCA)  “Biopolymers were among the more prolific polluters on the path to production, the LCA revealed. The team attributed this to agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, extensive land use for farming, and the intense chemical processing needed to convert plants into plastic.”  However, Pepsi is making their bioplastic from biological waste that would otherwise be thrown away, so that takes care of the farming issues.  But the chemical processing is more intensive than regular plastic creation. (Negetive Finding)

Plastic is made from oil.  Plant based plastic is not.  “Bioplastics have the advantage of being produced from renewable resources (bacteria, plants) rather than nonrenewable resources (oil, natural gas).” (How Stuff Works)  Now THAT’s something to brag about!  Less dependency on oil is a good thing, is it not?  Although others argue that using food based plants cannot be sustainable because, well, it’s food.  (Positive Finding)

There’s rumor that the bioplastics are cleaner, so may be chemically safer.  I’ll wait for more information on that.

So my conclusion is…  Yay for capitalism making these two monster companies (Coca Cola & Pepsi) consider the environment and battle it out!  I think it's great that these moguls are getting in on the public demand for "green" goods, even if it's just smoke and mirrors for the time being...  This is overall an improvement on plastic in my opinion.  However, I’m still opting to go without plastics, and am disappointed that the products aren’t biodegradable, nor compostable.  

I am thinking glass and aluminum are still better. . . But that’s another research project.

(THANK YOU, BRIAN, FOR SENDING ME THE LINK ABOUT PEPSI'S NEW BOTTLE!)