Bioplastics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

If future archaeologists were to characterize the anthropocene (the “age of humans”) by a single material, it’d probably be synthetic plastics–because they just don’t go away. In a hundred, thousand, even a million years from now, one of your elementary school light-up toothbrushes may still be there, mostly intact, in the same landfill deposit it ended up in when you junked it. Every piece of single-use cutlery you’ve ever used, all the packaging you accumulate over your life could still be slowly degrading into microparticles that have or will seep into soil, water, and living organisms over time.There is no end to the scary news about the ecological and health impacts of plastics in our environment, and our continued reliance on synthetic plastics maintains a global dependency on petrochemicals–which, in turn, exacerbates the climate crisis.

But what about bioplastics, an often-touted solution to our plastic problem? Bioplastics are pliable materials that are made, at least in part, from naturally-occurring polymers, processed into a pliable shape. Corn/starch, algae, and seaweed are a few popular sources of bioplastics. You’ve probably encountered corn ethanol forks or plates in the last several years. You may be wondering if “biodegradable” plastics really are the answer to curbing our addiction to plastic. Unfortunately, not all that glitters is as eco-friendly as its packaging may appear, so we’re here to break down the good, the bad, and the ugly truths about bioplastics. 

The Good 

Compared to the oil-driven plastic boom of the last century, “bioplastics are a significant improvement,” says Kartik Chandran, professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. For one, bioplastics don’t contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that disrupts hormones found in traditional plastics. Since they don’t rely on petroleum, bioplastics also have a lower carbon footprint than the regular kind.

In our oil-centered global economy, momentum to replace synthetic plastics is a good thing; it is our hope that continued research and development of bioplastics will present tangible opportunities to replace plastics in the permanent waste stream. One class of polymers–polyhydroxyalkanoates, or known better as PHA–shows promising potential in biodegradability in a wide range of environments. While they are not the most popular type of bioplastic, PHA’s popularity is increasing. In fact, some companies are making PHA from food scraps by capturing methane emitted and turning it into the new material. Innovations like these advance the sustainability of bioplastics while creating a circular, sustainable model for the food scraps. 

The Bad 

Bioplastics aren’t that simple, though. While some of the labels on products use the terms “biodegradable” or “compostable,” they often require industrial composting to truly break down. If you were to throw that starch-based fork into your backyard, some of them wind up lasting similarly long to their conventional plastic peers. However, since more consumers nowadays will spend an extra buck for environmentally-conscious products, companies have an incentive to “greenwash” their labels so the product or organization appears to be more sustainable or eco-friendly than it truly is. So, though a package may say “biodegradable,” many consumers wouldn’t likely know about the intensive and, at times, inaccessible industrial process it takes to genuinely disintegrate the item fully. 

The Ugly 

Speaking of disposal, when biodegradable plastics are not disposed of properly, they can cause malfunctions in traditional recycling systems and contaminate recycled plastic meant to be repurposed. A lot of consumers, even the ones who went out of their way to make a greener purchase, may not know that they’re tossing their waste into the wrong bin. Furthermore, additives in the bioplastic manufacturing process can lead to unintended chemical reactions, as well as weakening plastics so that they in fact have a shorter life cycle of reuse than before. And when bioplastics end up in landfills, as many items do, the oxygen-deprived environment can create conditions for the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Just because something is “natural,” doesn’t mean it is good for each and every environment it comes in contact with. Some of the common ingredients in bioplastics cause harm in ecosystems where they decompose, and also still bear the risk of causing methane release. Bioplastic production is also labor intensive, requiring energy, water, and crops like any other industrial product. If the crops or plants harvested for bioplastics were grown with pesticides or fertilizers, that presents an additional environmental impact with complex and far-reaching consequences. All in all, bioplastic comes with its own set of serious environmental baggage.

What Now?

One thing is clear: we need something as an alternative to plastic, and we need to support the innovators who are helping blaze the trail to that future. But for now, bioplastic is not the silver bullet that some think it is. It would be a fool’s errand to scale up bioplastic’s commercial presence as the solution to Big Plastic when we still are learning about bioplastic’s own serious environmental drawbacks. 

Just like tree planting to mitigate carbon in the atmosphere, some (small) solutions to plastic are simple and they’re already here. As the (updated) mantra goes: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. If something uses an excessive amount of plastic, don’t buy it; if it’s possible, talk to your grocer/retailer about your preference for products with less plastic packaging. Learn how to recycle in your area correctly and take the extra 1-2 minutes to sort your waste properly. Upcycling, reusing and repurposing items, is fun, trendy, and low-cost; upcycling keeps landfill-designated items in use for longer, and can help to support material economies that are more circular (read: less wasteful) in nature. We discuss in our blog about neat ways to upcycle Tree Hugger Container jars,  

While the plastic crisis certainly requires action of every level–consumer, producer, and legislative–advancing technology and human ingenuity are two reasons to feel optimistic about the future of our shared planet. In the meantime, it’s important to our team to help mitigate the problem in our little niche of container-making, and that’s why we prioritize sustainability in our products and partnerships. We encourage folks to do their research, contact any suppliers you work with who use these materials, and ask the hard questions. We all can do our part, even if it’s just as simple as sourcing recycled plastic or reusing a weed jar for your spices!