Category Archives: Biodegradation

It’s a Polymergency and I Want to Talk Trash…

Let’s face it; nobody knows what to do about it. Seattle just banned the bags, there are entire towns banning the bottles, and California has banned any decision making process all together. If you don’t know about it or if you’re just blatantly unaware, there is a subject that’s coming to a movie theatre near you – literally. Films such as “Bag It” and “Addicted to Plastic” are just a couple of eye opening documentaries that are meant to be wake-up calls to the general public to stop and take notice. I remember seeing Food Inc. for the first time; it’s a snap back to reality. This particular wake-up call is screaming – PLASTIC! And it all correlates with each other, feedstock, energy, governments, the environment, industry power-players, and the ability to make wise(r) choices. We have a polymergency! You may not see it out your front door, but if you care to look out the proverbial back door, you will find that we’re swimming in plastics. 200 billion pounds of it is being produced every year and growing at a ferocious rate, most all of it, despite your own good intentions, is heading for a landfill…and it’s not going away.

There are plenty of intertwined storylines, but it boils down to three choices and what’s right – right now. First, you have your PLA’s (polylactic acid), made from corn starch. This is the choice to compost, Industrial Compost, not your backyard contraption. It’s sourced from feedstock with GMOs to harvest a specific type of crop – red flags should already be flying. If you’re not sure where I’m heading here, then I recommend “Food, Inc.” an enlightening description about genetic engineering and our food supply. Nevertheless, the PLA technology lacks the performance characteristics of tradition plastics (low melting point and poor barriers) and, by definition and despite the claims, it is not actually biodegradable. Ideally, and a stretch for sure, this type of plastic ends up in an industrial composting facility. If the compost facility actually accepts it (although not likely), it is lovingly processed into the “organic” soil under a very controlled environment. Otherwise, it’s considered a contaminant in the recycling stream and it’s undoubtedly going to a landfill.

Then there are the oxo-degradables, the choice to degrade. Okay, let’s get this out of the way, “Biodegradability” means that the organic material is capable of being broken down into innocuous products by the action of living things (as microorganisms). But, because everything eventually decays over time (albeit a ridiculous amount of time for plastic); this term is being unreasonably used when describing oxo-degradables as oxo-“bio”degradables. Oxo-degradables do just that, degrade. The technology certainly makes it look like its biodegrading. Have you ever picked-up an old brittle piece of plastic that just breaks apart in your hand? Basically, there are metal-ions interspersed along the polymer chain. When an oxo-degradable plastic is exposed to UV light and oxygen (which occurs immediately), like any metal, the ions deteriorate. The plastic becomes brittle and it breaks apart into tiny pieces of itself and contaminating, not biodegrading, into the soil and food chain. Obviously, there are shelf-life issues with oxo’s and, like PLA’s, they’re not welcome in the recycling stream. They’re heading for a landfill, and since this technology requires oxygen to degrade, and most landfills are an anaerobic (without oxygen), the plastic won’t degrade, let alone “biodegrade.”

Now a different technology has emerged, a technology which proves actual accelerated biodegradation without affecting the properties of traditional plastic. This is the ENSO technology that’s causing such misunderstanding for the California legislatures, and curiously enough, for the time being, their answer is to only allow you to be informed if the product is compostable (PLA). Considering the fact that the chances of your plastic trash being introduced into a composting facility, if you are actually able to find one in your area, are slim to none, this this is a peculiar line for California to take a stance on. The ENSO technology is an FDA approved and scientifically proven additive that maintains all the phenomenal characteristic of traditional plastic. The technology works with the recycling stream and the accelerated biodegradation occurs when the plastic enters a highly microbial aerobic/anaerobic environment (landfills). In comparison studies, when weighing factors such as sourcing, shelf-life, and end-of-life factors, the ENSO technology for biodegradation is simply a better choice.

Our scientific technology is moving towards better answers, but this is going to take time. Yet, with 100 million tons of plastic being dropped on our doorstep every year, we need to embrace proven newcomers to the scene. The answer isn’t to take away the bag or the bottle; it’s to choose a better bag or bottle. And it’s certainly not time to cripple advancements with bureaucratic finagling. Also, before we get too wrapped-up in the “green washing” of new technologies coming to market, we should start asking tougher questions. Just because something is labeled with a “feel-good” name and has “feel-good” pictures accompanying the marketing campaigns, does not mean it’s better for our environment. We are burying ourselves in plastic trash and separating the wheat from the chaff, or the marketing from the innovation, is going to be a critical step in improving our methods and preventing us from further trashing our planet.

Biodegradable Packaging-Nature Does it, We Should Too!

It dawned on me the other day when I was peeling a banana that nature uses its own “packaging” to protect food based material. Yes I am talking about the banana peel as the example. It seems as though a Banana will spoil within almost an hour when unpeeled, but if left in its peel (packaging) it will be protected for weeks being off the tree.

We peel oranges, bananas, corn etc. all paralleling the value ENSO plastics brings to the market. The phrase, “nature does not produce anything that it cannot then break back down into its basic components” is so perfectly illustrated in this banana peel example. Anyone will tell you, that when a banana peel is discarded in nature, they feel it will biodegrade (and I would also bet most would additionally picture someone slipping and landing on their backside because of a discarded Banana peel).

Nature accomplishes this miraculous process through the relentless activity of microorganisms designed to eat anything that has carbon available to “eat”. Fruit, vegetables, leaves, meat etc. are just a few examples of the millions of items that are produced by nature, which will break back down into its basic microscopic components through the process nature provides. These microbes are found everywhere, in fact there are more microbes found in a tablespoon of soil than inhabitants on the Earth. Microbes are commonly known in high colony activity known as mold or fungus.

This nature produced packaging is a perfect parallel to what ENSO packaging is doing. We see that we can initiate microbes to start the eating process of our treated plastic because they detect highly attractive food substances in our additive. Once they begin to consume the additive, their digestive process, or enzymatic response, expands to consume the whole of the plastic and the additive.

This feature of our plastic working in harmony with nature is at the heart of our message to the world. We can do things differently than we have in the past, and break out of “status quo”. We can embrace innovation to foster change, and work with nature as opposed to working against nature. The rewards overpower the downside when evaluated. The upside to utilizing ENSO is growing in its understanding and impact. Weather it is for a business wanting growth for doing the right thing, or the environmental impact of plastic on our planet, ENSO is here to help be a part of creating lasting, positive change.

During this New Year, we want to acknowledge those who are active in this change by utilizing ENSO material as part of their environmental mission. In some instances, change has required courage and passion. Anything worth-while has had to pass through the “growing pains” of society; hopefully those who have converted to ENSO has had more “growing” than they have had “pains”. But in any event, the issue is too great, and the opportunity too real for anyone to not stand up and demand more. So we want to invite others to create change for this New Year; to create a distinct legacy-whatever your position is at your company. We invite those making key decisions for materials at their company to stand up and create change. We invite those who need to learn more about ENSO to make the decision to open their minds and get educated-misunderstanding or ignorance is part of the problem we face as a society, education can open up so many possibilities. We invite all to hold ENSO to higher standard as well, and develop more information and answers to new questions and applications. I hope everyone has a New Year’s resolution to be actively engaged in positive change to our environment, and elevate the status quo at your company/position to a new level of reality; even a higher standard. We live in exciting times where someday I hope all of us can look back and say, “I was part of that great change in the market.”

The Maturing of Biodegradable Plastics

Striving for growth and improvement is a fundamental part of the human experience. We, as a whole, are never satisfied with status quo. This is true both personally and as a society. If one were to travel back in time to the beginning of any industry; we would discover a couple of things; industries began with the initial ideals of improving lives, they utilize best of current knowledge and understanding to bring those ideals to the masses and they improve over time. We can clearly see that as time marches on from the beginning days of each industry, the knowledge and understanding changes; resulting in improvements, wide acceptance and change.

History is riddled with examples of industries beginning as young ideas then growing and maturing over time to become well-established. In doing so, they’ve added essential improvements to the quality of life for mankind and often overcome significant opposition in the process.

It’s easy to take look at where we are today in industries such as aviation, space exploration, manufacturing, construction, education, legislation, science, and many others and forget the massive changes that have taken place since the beginning of each of these industries began.

Human flight was only dreamed of until the first powered flight by the Wright brothers in 1903 (which lasted only 12 seconds!). Through improved technology we now fly not only across the world daily but into space as well!

Copernicus suggested that the earth revolves around the sun in the early 1500’s. Books written supporting this theory were banned and supporters were persecuted and executed for heresy. In fact Galileo was ordered by law to not hold, teach or defend this concept. Today, we accept this theory as common knowledge.

People laughed at Henry Ford’s “horseless buggy”. Today it is not only an essential mode of transportation, but we are finding better ways to prevent pollution and conserve energy resources consumed by these “horseless buggies”.

Industries begin just as the examples above, with the best knowledge available and often a bit of controversy. However they are regularly improving as a result of lessons learned, developments of new processes and protocols, scientific breakthroughs, and having a better understanding of what questions to ask; as well as knowing what issues to focus on and allocate resources to.

The story of ENSO is no exception to this process. ENSO was created with the mission to change the world in the way we handle plastics – we want to solve the world’s plastic pollution issue. Following more than a year of research to understand the plastic pollution issues; we developed ENSO additives. This additive is designed to enhance the biodegradation of standard plastics and allows the plastic material to recycle along with standard polymers.

ENSO utilizes the best of science’s understanding, processes and protocols to test and validate our technology. As our industry matures we recognize that it is no different than the many industries that have come before us. This industry is young and has much maturing to work through. The culture of ENSO to improve the life of mankind with solving the plastic pollution issue does not make us shy away from the growing pains that happen with young industry and we are in the forefront, pushing the envelope by improving the science, process and protocols associated within this industry. This does not come without hurdles, but as we see from the examples throughout history of matured industries, the key to success is continually improving the science, knowledge and education of our products. ENSO is dedicated to this continued maturation and the value that this provides to the industry and our environment.

Part #2 – A New Look At Zero Waste

If you recall, last month we discussed ZERO Waste. The key points were that every living entity creates bi-products, which can become waste if the byproduct has no value – think of your kitchen trash.

This trash is comprised of food waste, paper, plastic and anything else you did not find value for in your home. Luckily this trash goes to your curb and is neatly taken away where you no longer have to see it. Perfect right? A few years ago I would have said “NO WAY! This trash is going to the landfill where it will sit for decades or centuries. How is that perfect?” Fortunately, today we are learning how to turn that landfilled trash into a huge value – for you and the environment!

Methane. One of the cleanest and most inexpensive sources of energy available today, straight from your neighborhood landfill! That’s right, you send out trash and get back electricity! OK it is a bit more complicated than that but fundamentally that is exactly what is happening at over 550 landfills across the US.

Here are the facts:

As material biodegrades in landfills it produces methane. Methane has over 22 times the greenhouse gas effect of CO2, however when landfill methane is used for energy production, there becomes a carbon positive effect. The NRDC states that the use of landfill gas for energy has the potential to offset up to 12006lbs of CO2 per MWh, as it offsets traditional energy production such as coal and gas.

The greenhouse gas reduction benefits of a typical 4 megawatt LFG project equate to:
• Planting over 60,000 acres of forest per year or removing the annual carbon dioxide emissions from over 45,000 cars.
• This would also offset the use of 1,000 railcars of coal or prevent the use of almost 500,000 barrels of oil.

Producing energy from landfill gas avoids the need to use non-renewable resources such as coal, oil, or natural gas to produce the same amount of energy. LFG electricity’s offsetting of fossil fuel derived energy can avoid gas end-user and power plant emissions of CO2 and pollutants.

Did you know that 14 percent of renewable electricity generation (not including hydroelectric dams) comes from operations that recapture energy from discarded waste.

Companies today have a unique opportunity to utilize packaging that retains the beneficial properties of traditional plastic, such as strength, shelf life, visual aspect and process-ability, while creating a zero waste program and potentially reducing your carbon footprint. ENSO plastics are designed for disposal in today’s biologically active landfills where they will biodegrade and convert to methane for clean and inexpensive energy production. In 2009 there was 30 million tons of plastic packaging discarded into US landfills, converting this plastic to ENSO would result in about 10 million tons of plastic being converted to clean energy and offsetting the dirty energy production of coal and gas. It would also potentially free up over 70 million cubic yards in our landfills.

Did you know?

When converted to methane, 34 ENSO bottles (19.2 gram) can light a 100W light bulb for 1 hour.

Using ENSO materials provide companies a unique opportunity to step into a future of zero waste, where all product packaging is converted to clean energy, and returned to the earth in a beneficial form. In a life cycle analysis this could prove to be a carbon negative option to traditional plastic packaging.

Waste is a byproduct that has no value. Plastic that is recycled or biodegrades in a landfill has a value (economically and environmentally) and is not waste.

ENSO PLASTICS DEVELOPS NEAR-PERFECT PLASTIC BOTTLE

As featured on Newhope 360; Full Article link http://newhope360.com/packaging/enso-plastics-develops-near-perfect-plastic-bottle

ENSO Plastics develops near-perfect plastic bottle

Wed, 2011-11-09 13:09

Functional Ingredients

Caren Baginski

While many can’t imagine life without bottled water, it wasn’t that long ago—the 1960s, in fact—that plastic bottle production didn’t exist. Today, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the plastic of choice in the beverage industry. According to ENSO Plastics, more than 75 percent of the ubiquitous bottles (and 94 percent of all plastics) end up in landfills. “We really want to solve the world’s plastic pollution issue,” said President Danny Clark of the Mesa, Ariz.–based company. ENSO is taking advantage of this statistic with its current solution: fully biodegradable and recyclable PET plastic.

“When we started, some of the cofounders had experience with bottled water companies. I was one of them,” said Clark. “We were exposed on a regular basis to the environmental impacts that bottled water has in the environment.” Customers asked the co-founders regularly for alternatives. Continue reading →

ENSO Plastics Official Statement Regarding California Lawsuit

In response to the recent media coverage regarding the California Attorney General filing a lawsuit against companies doing business in California that are labeling their product packaging as “biodegradable”. At this time ENSO Plastics is unable to comment specifically about the details of any such lawsuit as we have not had the opportunity to read the lawsuit.

We do however, strongly believe in our company’s mission to rid the world of plastic pollution and have been dedicated for the past three years in bringing the most sound environmental plastic solutions to market. We stand behind our technology and the claims that our company makes in stating that standard plastics enhanced with our biodegradable additive are fully recyclable and if placed in an environment with microbes, will naturally biodegrade.

We in no way claim that our technology is the silver bullet to solving the massive plastic pollution issue our world faces. It is however a huge step in the right direction and a cost effective solution that can be implemented within todays manufacturing and end-of-life options. We do recognize that a key component in continuing to move towards the perfect solution is to address the sourcing issue of plastics and to move away from fossil fuel based polymers. Our company is one of a few companies who are diligently working towards offering renewable bio-polymers (with the same physical properties) that will address the sourcing issue which also provides a fully recyclable and naturally biodegradable end-of-life option. We also recognize that our industry is young and we have a ways to go to improving the processes to allow our industry to mature as needed. We are continually improving the testing process and working with organizations to provide more thorough data and information for the public.

Each of us have contributed in one way or another to our global plastic pollution issue and it will be up to each of us to work together to solve the very problem we created. The public is ready for change and is looking for more environmental packaging and plastic solutions. It is unfortunate that such a law could get passed that would inhibit biodegradable technologies from being labeled as such. We fully support the premise of the law to prevent “greenwashing”, but do not agree that banning or preventing the use of proper labeling of a package as a step toward solving that problem. We believe consumers should be allowed to know if their product packaging is biodegradable and if so, provided with the details of how and in what environments the packaging will biodegrade.

It is also unfortunate that this law specifically allows the use of product packaging which is compostable to be labeled as “compostable”, but for competing technologies such as ours, makes it illegal for companies to properly label their packaging as “biodegradable”. It leads one to question the true intent behind the law, especially when that law was supported and sponsored by the compostable plastics industry organization. It’s unfortunate, because there is currently very little infrastructure in place for composting facilities to accept compostable plastics. As a result, tons of compostable plastics end up in either the recycle stream or in landfill environments; neither provides the environmental benefit of the product. In our view of greenwashing, a company making a claim to an environmental benefit that cannot be achieved is the most serious form of “greenwashing”.

ENSO Plastics has all intentions of working with the California Attorney General to comply with the labeling law. We will continue forward with pursuing our mission to help solve the world’s plastic pollution issue and continue to improve the science and validity of our young industry. We would invite everyone to join with us in our efforts towards a cleaner future.

Sincerely,
Danny Clark
President
ENSO Plastics

PEC to Develop Biodegradation Standard for Plastic Additives

Plastics Environmental Council to Develop Biodegradation Standard for Plastics Additives and New Certification Seal

Biodegradable Additives Play Critical Role in Helping Solve the Plastics in Landfill Issue

Milton, GA, OCTOBER 24, 2011 — The Plastics Environmental Council (PEC) today announced the
sponsorship of a research study to produce the first standard specification for the landfill
biodegradation of petroleum- and natural gas-derived plastics that have been treated with additives
that enhance biodegradation. The PEC is undertaking the development of the biodegradation standard
specification to build confidence in the efficacy of plastics additives with regulators, consumers and
businesses. Plastic additives that speed up the breakdown of plastic in landfills, without affecting their
performance during use, are critically important to helping reduce the volume of plastic waste in
landfills.

Despite the fact that readily consumer-separated items such as soda and milk bottles are collected and
recycled at increasing rates, the majority of plastics simply cannot be recycled for a variety of reasons
including contamination, collection and logistics costs, second end-use limitations, etc. According to
the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 13 million tons of plastic containers and packaging
ended up in landfills in 2008. The PEC’s effort to develop a landfill biodegradation specification standard
is intended to address this issue.

To develop the standard specification, PEC has partnered with Georgia Tech and North Carolina State
University to conduct a large-scale research and development program, headed by a leading expert on
landfill technology, Professor Morton Barlaz of North Carolina State. Professor Barlaz and his team will
study waste degradation rates under both laboratory and field (landfill) conditions of petroleum- and
natural gas-derived plastics that have been treated with PEC member companies’ additives to produce
the standard specification. Once developed, the standard specification will reliably project the landfill
biodegradation rates for a given PEC-certified product in a given range of landfills over a given range of
moisture conditions with much more certainty than is possible today.

“While we already know from various independent laboratory tests that our member companies’
additives are expected to be effective at speeding up the biodegradation of petroleum and natural gasderived
plastics in landfills, this will be the first-of-its-kind study to verify biodegradation rates of plastic
waste treated with such additives under both laboratory and field conditions,” said Senator Robert
McKnight, PEC Board chairman. “The new standard will allow us to develop a simple certification seal
that will inspire confidence in these additives from businesses, consumers and regulators.”

While most plastics from hydrocarbons are recyclable, they are not biodegradable without the addition
of chemical additives and remain in landfills virtually forever. Chemical additives, many of which are
approved for use by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), are added to the plastic resins during the
manufacturing process and do not alter the final product’s performance, are undetectable by the end
user, and products containing them can be processed through current recycling methods.

The PEC expects the landfill biodegradability certification seal to be available in approximately 18
months.

PEC member companies include Wincup, Ecologic, Bio-Tec Environmental, ECM Biofilms, ENSO Plastics,
Pure Plastics, C-Line Products, Inc., Ecolab, and FP International.

About the Plastics Environmental Council
The PEC is a consortium of businesses, independent scientists and academics, engineers, landfill and compost
operators, and environmental groups. Our goal is to assist our members in promoting the efficacy of state-of-themarket
technology to facilitate the biodegradation of conventional petroleum-derived plastics in landfills and
related disposal environments. For more information, please visit: http://pec-us.org/.

Plastic Pellets from Play guns Could Cause lasting Environmental Harm

Looks like another consumer is starting to see the reality of the issues with traditional plastics. I find it interesting that the consumer sees such a issue with the biodegradable pellet option which claims to break down in around a year? A year is a heck of a lot faster than 500-1000+ years. Unfortunately they did not list what type of “biodegradable” plastic pellet the store offers. I am curious in what environmental conditions it will actually break down in. In this consumers particular situation they want plastic pellets that will degrade in your yard/grass/dirt, are super strong, and biodegrade FAST;less than a year fast. There needs to be a balance between consumer responsibility and companies environmental responsibility. Check out the article below and let me know what you think in the comment box!

Plastic Pellets from Play Guns Could Cause Lasting Environmental Harm

An Oakdale Environmental Management Commission member started researching the issue after finding hundreds of the tiny BBs in his yard while lifting sod.

By Patty Busse

When Oakdale resident Keith Miller’s son played war games with an airsoft gun occasionally when he was younger, Miller said he didn’t think much about the small, plastic pellets it spit out.

But when he started lifting some sod in his yard recently to expand a plant bed and found hundreds of the pellets in his grass—the leftovers from numerous neighborhood games—the Oakdale Environmental Management Commission chair started doing some research.

He found that the pellets can be toxic to animals if eaten, and don’t break down in the environment, he said.

“They’ll be there for centuries,” he said at Oakdale’s Environmental Management Commission meeting last week. He said he probably has thousands in his yard, which isn’t surprising when you consider there are rapid-fire automatic airsoft guns on the market that can easily shoot hundreds of pellets in a minute.

There are biodegradable pellets available for the guns—Oakdale’s Sports Authority sells them—but they have downsides, too. They’re two or three times the cost of the plastic ones, and they still last in the environment for about year, he said.

Miller and other environmental commissioners agreed to research the issue more to determine what, if anything, the city should do to limit environmental harm. Recommended solutions could range from an educational campaign to further restrictions on where people can use airsoft guns, Miller said.

Although shooting BB or pellet guns with metal ammunition isn’t allowed in Oakdale, airsoft guns can be used on private property as long as they’re only shot at willing participants, said Oakdale Police Department Capt. Jack Kettler. Because the airsoft BBs are plastic rather than metal, he said, they are less dangerous and unlikely to break the skin.

Oakdale law prohibits using the guns on public property, he said.

“We had issues with kids using them in the parks and alarming people,” he said. Some of the guns are made to look and feel so realistic, that the Oakdale Police Department uses them in training drills, he said.

Some cities—such as Maplewood—prohibit using the guns within the city limits. Miller said he planned to bring more information on the issue to the environmental commission’s next meeting on Nov. 21.

So What?

So WHAT?!

There is no question the biodegradation of traditional plastics is a reality, and YES plastics can now biodegrade in a landfill. However, as was so eloquently posed to me recently, “SO WHAT!?” We make plastics for every purpose imaginable and when we are done with them, we thoughtlessly toss the plastics in the landfill out of sight, out of mind…but “SO WHAT”!? Does it really matter if those plastics last forever or for just a few years? “SO WHAT”!?

Let’s look at the past 50 years: We used 7 million tons of plastic in 1960. We increased that to 196 million tons in 2005 and are expected to exceed 365 million tons in 2015. “SO WHAT”!? We put almost 90% of our plastic waste in our landfills. That equates to over 300 million tons of plastic every year in the landfill. TONS. Billions of tons filling up our landfills with plastic that will last pretty much forever. And each of us continues to add TONS more every day. If that is not enough to make you jump out of your seat and upgrade all of your plastic products to biodegradable…

Let’s look at things from a different view; The ENSO view.

Biodegradable Plastics –

Because we can reduce the volume of our landfills

Because we can build fewer landfills

Because every biodegradable plastic product you use can be converted to clean energy

Because we can choose plastics that work with nature rather than against it

Because your products can create a better world

Because WE created the mess and continue to do so

Because it’s this generation’s responsibility, not our children’s or our grandchildren’s

Because today you have a choice and tomorrow may be too late

Because your customers want it

Because you know it is the right thing to do

“SO WHAT” will you choose?

Cheese Plastic…No, We are Serious.

Well this is new, I have heard of corn plastics…but now Cheese plastics? This is quite interesting, if they are using products that would be waste I find that quite resourceful. Please let me know what you think about this new technology! At ENSO were all about innovative technology that will make a difference and is good for the earth.

Is Cheese the Next Sustainable Packaging Solution?

http://icommittogreen.net/reduce/is-cheese-the-next-sustainable-packaging-solution/

Cheese makes a tasty addition to any meal, but did you ever guess it could be used for packaging?

Researchers say that a biodegradable plastic made from cheese byproducts could reduce the need for synthetic packaging and keep useful materials out of the landfill.

The bioplastic made from whey protein is the result of the three-year WheyLayer project, a European Commission-funded research and development project in Spain’s Catalonia region that aims to solve a common packaging woe.

In the food industry, oxidation of oils, fats and other components can lead to unpleasant colors and flavors. So, keeping oxygen out of packaged food is essential.

SEE: 5 Absurdly Over-Packaged Foods

Plastics like PE (polyethylene) and PP (polypropylene) are excellent moisture-blockers, but to keep out oxygen, they must be coated with expensive synthetic polymers.

Most of these polymers – such as EVOH (ethylene vinyl alcohol polymer) and PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride polymer) – are petroleum-based and extremely difficult to reuse, as it is almost impossible to separate each layer for individual recycling.

Whey, the milk protein byproduct of cheese production, provides similar oxygen-blocking properties, but it’s much cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

The new packaging – developed by Barcelona-based research company IRIS – replaces synthetics with whey protein-coated plastic fibers, which could save loads of money and make packaging more readily recyclable.

After packaging is used, whey protein can be chemically or enzymatically removed, and underlying plastic can be easily recycled or reused to make new packaging.

RECYCLING MYSTERY: Bioplastics

In addition to saving money and raw materials, the new application could also keep millions of tons of whey out of European landfills. Each year, European cheese factories produce 50 million tons of whey. Some of it is reused as food additives, but almost 40 percent is thrown away.

Discarded whey collected from cheese producers can be filtered and dried to extract the pure whey protein, which can be used in several thin layers to create a plastic film for use in food packaging.

While the packaging is subject to patent applications, researchers expect it to appear in consumer products within a year. The bioplastic is expected to be used for cosmetics packaging first, and food packaging applications will follow.

The technology will likely be used in the European market at first. But many companies from around the globe showed interest in the packaging when researchers took it to the Interpack international trade fair for packaging and processes back in May.