The Scientific Ravi 2011 - Government College University

The Scientific Ravi 2011
Bioplastics
Conventional
versus
Plastics
Fatella
Bioplastics are the plastics which are
manufactured using polymers derived from
plant material called as biopolymers such as
starch and cellulose. Some molecules
deriwd trom plants, which are not polymers
but are polymerizable, for example, lactic
acid deri ved from corn and potatoes and
triglycerides are also getting fame among
scientists due to their appreciable role of
these organic molecules in plastic synthesis.
;-' ..1any plastic manufacturing companies are
now concerned with the production of
bioplastics and their use in coverings and
packaging materials instead of conventional
plastic. as the conventional plastic dumping
is associated with emissions of hazardous
gases. biophenoles (which are endocrine
disrupters) and damaging of food chain.
Dumping of plastics in oceans is one of the
big issues regarding threats to aquatic life. It
ha~ been reported that about 2.5 billion
plastic bottles are dumped each year into
oceans bv America alone which are less than
30% or' the total dumped-plastic in the
world. It is not that the conventional plastic
is not degradable. but it requires hundreds of
veal'S to-degrade which imposes threat to
j'ood chain ~nd land resources. Moreover.
polc-mer resins that are constituents of
plastic are derived from petroleum and
natural gas i.e. nOI1- renewable energy
sourccs. This curtails the aspect of
slistainabilit).
On the other hand. biopolymers are obtained
Irom the renewable energy sources like corn
and soya bean. ivlanufacturing process
involve; the biochemical process such as
fermentation. To produce the constituents of
bioplastics i.e. biopolymers scientists are
tixusin~ on the use of al~ae ")I" this purpose
- -
GC University, Lahore
SDSC
along with the bacterial use. On the basis of
their-biotic origin bioplastics are referred as
biodegradable plastics. The recycling of
such ;vpe of plastic is also a pollution tree
proces's as compared to conventional plastics
recycling.
One school of thought is that. the
conventional plastic production consumes
only 4% of the total world oil and these are
obtained as a byproduct of natural gas. crude
oil extraction and refining process. Majority
of the countries \\here plastic is produced
have the recycling setup for petroleum based
plastics. On the other hand. biopJastics
production will have impact on
eutrophication. pesticides pollution and
ecotoxicitv. that is, there production carries
environm~ntal cost as well. Introducing the
bioplastics for recycling into already present
recvcling streams will not be possible, new
stn;clUr;s will be needed. Moreover
bioplastics can not only be stemmed as
green just because of the fact that these are
derived from biomass. In fact. there is still
no studv which could prove that the
degradation will be really very rapid and if
th;v are reallv readilv degradable (as now it
has' been w~rked O~il by scientists). then
what's the assurance that thei I'
decomposition will not release any harmful
product and one step ahead degradation of
that harmful products will be rapid or nol.
So to s\\ itch to the bioplaslics from
petroleum based plastics may not
necessarily be a grecn and sustainable step.
Certain t;lCts arc ignored b" the critics lhat
althouoh onlv 4'Y; of the - world total oil
produc~ion i~ consumed in conventional
plastic pmduction but how much this 4%
along \\'lth the production process and
dumping process is contributing towards
glohal \varming and eco toxicity is not
~onsidered. Re~earchers have fo'und that
production of bioplasties require less t,'ssil
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