Now, going green can be as easy as ordering take-out—that is, if the restaurant you’re calling packages its food in bioplastics and other compostable materials. Instead of petroleum, bioplastics are derived from sources such as corn and other vegetable starches, vegetable oils or microbiota (a type of evergreen… no pun intended).
The technology of using bioplastics as a substitute for petroleum-based plastics has been developing and available for the past 20 years, but noticeable commercial use hasn’t occurred until a few years ago. With disposable packing being a significant factor in waste production, bioplastics offer a solution that is disposable, biodegradable and sustainable – characteristics that petroleum-based plastics simply don’t have.
Besides food packaging, plastic packaging is used for packing and office supplies. In fact, the Environmental Sustainability Committee reports that the average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste per year. EcoEndure is working to make office and packing supplies more eco-friendly by offering CD and DVD cases, badge sleeves and binders. UniVenture, EcoEndure’s parent company, began in 1988 when it produced a substitute to the jewel CD cases by providing a case that had 93% less plastic, making the case more sustainable. EcoEndure gained attention after Al Gore’s environmental documentary, “The 11th Hour”, was packaged in their EnvyPak, a sleeve made from the bioplastic, polyactide acid (PLA) plastic.
Gore may have brought his green mission to the masses by raising awareness but some city officials are now enforcing green measures upon their residents. In San Francisco, Ca, an ordinance passed in November 2007 that banned the use of plastic bags at large supermarkets. Six months later, larger chains like Walgreens stopped using traditional plastic bags and are opting, instead, for their bioplastic counterparts.
Even though bioplastics are on the rise, the process of decomposition continues to evade the general public, with improper discarding of bioplastics, leading to problems for waste management plants. But proponents of bioplastics say that new technology requires consumer education and existing systems must renovate. The integration of plastics means integrating a newer, greener way of life into our daily habits, a process that begins one plastic bag at a time.
Posted by Asiana Ponciano
