If plastic is such a one-way ecological nightmare of a substance, why do we keep using it?
Like it or not, the world currently needs plastic. Its versatility is incredible – because it’s so tough, flexible and nonreactive we can even use it to replace our own internal organs (even in its most everyday form). If plastic was universally banned tomorrow, the modern world would immediately start to fall apart. And if we keep using it? A littered, poisoned environment. Not to mention it’s a rapidly diminishing resource. What to do?
The answer: we replace fossil-fuel plastic with a substance that does exactly the same job, is just as cheap to produce, but is made without a drop of petroleum and biodegrades into harmless substances. Bioplastics is a boom industry that’s still struggling to rid itself of their dependence on oil: take Italian bioplastic manufacturer Novamont’s admission that making a kilo of their product still takes half a kilo of fossil fuels (pdf). There are other issues – how do bioplastics degrade? Can they be recycled (vitally important for keeping the recycling industries afloat)? Are they tough enough to do the job? Thorny issues abound, as you’d expect from such a fledgling technology.
The latest contender for the throne is Arboform, nicknamed “liquid wood”. It’s created from mixing lignin (a product of the wood-processing industries) with natural fibers and additives, and the result is a substance that fills the role of any other plastic. It can even be safely chewed, making it perfect for toys. Most promising, it seems to be highly recyclable. Could this be the answer we’ve been waiting for? It’s way too early to say (how green will the production line be, we ask?), but right now, it’s a step in the right direction – which is away from plastic.
Image: gentlemanrook