The Scientific Ravi 2011 - Government College University

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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 173
The Scientific Ravi 2011 fuels so less contribution towards global warming and reduced resource depletion as well. As for as recycling is concerned, the recycling and incineration of conventional plastic are generating a serious air pollution problem. Despite of the fact that less than 2% of the plastic is recycled each year in the countries like USA. Viewing all the above mentioned facts. if the plastic which is expected to degrade rapidly due to their biotic origin and its production use and dumping will not impose devastating threats to environment as compared to conventional plastic consuming less energy as well are recycled atier their use, it will delinitely be a good step towards protection of resources and environment. In SDSC China, Biodegradable plastic capacity reached to 80.000tones in 2007. China exported more than 95% of the bioplastics to developed countries Iike Europe and America (Global and china biodegradable plastic industry report. 20 I0). According to a report global demand for bioplastics is expected to reach 884,OOOtones by 2020. Although till 2009. bioplastics accounted less than I% of the global demand for plastic. (The future of bioplastics for packaging t02020. global market forecast). But it is an indication that markets are gradually shining from the conventional polymers towards biodegradable and compostable polymers. GC Uninrsity. L"horc 174
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