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lenses made with plant-derived materials in May. A month later,

green chemistry company Carbios and cereals giant Limagrain

Céréales Ingrédients joined forces on the production of bio-based and

biodegradable plastic films including green waste collection bags, mulch

films, fruit and vegetable bags, industrial films and even mailing films.

While the list of green inventions can go on, there’s a reason plastic

remains the choice material – its low production cost, durability, and

some may even argue, minimal environmental damage. On average,

only 5% of crude oil is used to make all the plastics we currently use,

and plastic bags make up only 5% of that total.

Meanwhile paper bags, which are also usually single-use, demand

four times as much energy and create 50 times more water pollution

and 70% more air pollution. According to a 2011 report from the UK’s

Environment Agency, a cotton bag would have to be reused 171 times

to match the carbon dioxide pollution of a typical plastic bag – and this

doesn’t take into account the pesticides used in growing cotton. Certain

bio-plastics, on the other hand, require specific composting facilities

for degradation and will likely breakdown at a similar rate as non-

bioplastics in any other environment.

Yet, Simon believes it’s unfair to measure the new inventions with

the same stick. “When you move from petroleum to an agricultural

product you shift the impact. I think it’s easy to look at any new product

and criticise; but the reality is we haven’t asked traditional plastics

to measure their impact, we’ve never set that bar,” she says. “So now

there’s a new industry that’s coming out that’s saying we’re going to try

to do this better, we’re going to try to make materials that have a better

environmental footprint, and the bar we have now has been set higher

than it has ever been set before. But it can definitely be done.”

“Bioplastics take a long journey: the commitment is definitely out

there, but it takes time for R&D because they need to meet all the

requirements. We can’t just get rid of plastics but [we can] create a

world with a mix of traditional, bio-plastics and recyclable materials

in the marketplace. It’s going to keep evolving and we will keep asking

industries to do more.”

http://www.bakeys.com

http://www.wwf.org

http://www.oceanconservancy.org

http://www.noaa.gov

http://www.livinglamma.com

http://www.raceforwater.org

http://www.rhkyc.org

http://www.theoceanproject.org

http://www.oceanrecov.org

PHOTO: LIVING LAMMA

PHOTO: LIVING LAMMA

PHOTO: BAKEYS

PHOTO: LIVING LAMMA