Issue 02/2016

Basics
Bioplastics packaging:
design for a circular
plastics economy
By:
Hasso von Pogrell
Managing Director
European Bioplastics
Berlin, Germany
Applying the principles of a circular economy from
the onset to the design stage of bioplastic materials
and packaging solutions offers a competitive edge
for the bioplastics industry. Today, packaging is the single
largest field of application for bioplastics with currently
70 % (1.2 million tonnes) of the global bioplastics production
capacity, forecast to reach 80 % (6.5 million tonnes) in
2019. The increase in demand is mainly driven by a growing
awareness of society’s impact on the environment as well
as the continuous advancements and innovations in new
materials and applications. Yet, their true value lies in their
characteristic of being derived from renewable resources
and being recyclable as secondary raw materials that reenter
the circular economy by design.
Renewable feedstock
Biobased plastics have the unique advantage over
conventional plastics to reduce the dependency on
limited fossil resources and to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions or even be carbon neutral. Biobased plastics
are partly or fully derived from biobased resources that
are sustainably sourced and regrow on an annual basis,
such as sugarcane, corn, or sugar beet. Moreover, first
successful projects explore the possibilities to create
bioplastics from non-food crops and waste products that
promise to become an efficient resource in the mid- and
long-term. By replacing the fossil content in plastics with
plant-based content, carbon is taken from the atmosphere
and bound in the material. These biobased materials are
then used to manufacture a broad range of products with a
potentially neutral or even negative carbon footprint, many
of which are durable and can be reused or easily recycled
many times. Consequently, biobased plastics can help the
EU to meet its 2020 targets of greenhouse gas emissions
reduction.
Closed resource cycle
Bioplastics can make a considerable contribution to
increased resource efficiency through a closed resource
cycle and use cascades, especially if biobased materials
and products are being either reused or recycled and
eventually used for energy recovery (i.e. renewable
energy). Bioplastics are suitable for a broad range of endof-life
options with the overwhelming part of the volumes
of bioplastics produced today already being recycled
alongside their conventional counterparts where separate
recycling streams for certain material types exist (e.g.
biobased PE in the PE-stream or biobased PET in the
PET stream). Furthermore, compostability is an add-on
property of certain types of bioplastics that offers additional
waste treatment options at the end of a product’s life.
Biodegradable products, such as compostable biowaste
bags, food packaging, or cutlery can easily be treated
together with organic waste in industrial composting
plants and are thus diverted from landfills and turned into
valuable compost. This way, bioplastics can contribute to
higher recycling quotas in the EU, a more efficient waste
management, and the transition to a circular economy.
Improved product performance
The bioplastics industry has come up with numerous
innovative technical and material solutions. Besides being
biobased and therefore reducing the carbon footprint
of a product, biobased plastics also offer new material
properties for an improved performance, including
enhanced breathability, increased material strength, and
improved optical properties. Some new materials offer
multiple functionalities combined in one material, such as
PBS-based materials or functional biodegradable coating
materials for example, where only one film will be needed
to protect the good or food.
Bioplastics are essential for the transition to a
circular economy
Our industry strongly supports the principles of the
European Commission’s Circular Economy Proposal, which
for the first time links the bioeconomy and circular economy,
and which aims to treat waste as a valuable resource and
make Europe’s economy cleaner and more competitive.
The proposal outlines measures to cut resource use,
reduce waste, and to enable true circularity across Europe
by setting clear measures, methodologies, and standards.
The European Commission’s Action plan ‘Closing the loop
– An EU action plan for the Circular Economy’ in particular
aims to incentivise the production of more durable, easier
to repair, reuse, and recycle products. A corresponding
revision of the Ecodesign Directive is already underway
and a proposal is soon to be expected. In this context,
European Bioplastics supports the position of the Ellen
MacArthur foundation and the World Economy Forum in
their report on the ‘New Plastics Economy’, which states
that recyclability alone is not sufficient enough to create
circularity and resource efficient products. Ecodesign
requirements should also take efficient use of feedstock
and efficient waste management solutions into account.
True ecodesign is only possible if the notion of circularity
is implemented. Focussing only on recyclability falls short
of what it desired to achieve. Given the still too high quota
of landfilling in the EU and the comparatively low quota of
recycling, there is an urgent need for a more comprehensive
approach to the problem: In order to provide an incentive
to drastically reduce waste, while at the same time support
renewable energy (e.g. biogas) and increase secondary raw
42 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/16] Vol. 11