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November 19, 2007

Lansing State Journal

Bioplastics makers work to grow their niche

Target Corp. offers shoppers an unusual message about its gift cards at some stores.

It notes in displays that the cards are biodegradable. Then, the Minneapolis-based retailer advises in a tongue-in-cheek fashion: "Just make sure you spend them first."

But this is more than a gimmick to sell things. Plastics made from corn and other plants are carving a niche from the market for conventional petroleum-based plastics.

They also are being touted as environmentally friendly "green" alternatives for products that include bulk food containers and lipstick tubes and clothing fiber - and yes, gift cards.

It's a market Lansing-area researchers and companies also are trying to develop.

"Bioplastics" offer the world a way to wean itself off oil and most are biodegradable to varying degrees. But the "green" argument is complex and environmentalists are cautious in their support.

Manufacturing bioplastics produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. The materials are made from crops - corn, switchgrass, sugar cane, even sweet potatoes - that require land and water to grow.

Some people sound alarms because genetically modified organisms are used to spur the fermentation that creates them. And recycling them presents still other pitfalls.

Bioplastics also can cost three times more than conventional plastics, which gives businesses pause about adopting them.

"It's almost a chicken-and-egg scenario," said David Cornell of the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers. "It might someday reach that critical mass, but it has to happen very quickly because in the meantime it can be a nuisance for us."

Reducing consumption

Bioplastics' main benefit would be to reduce from 10 percent the share of U.S. petroleum consumption that goes into plastic. The types that are biodegradable also could help compensate for the country's slow progress in recycling - only about 6 percent of plastic made in the United States was recycled in 2005, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bioplastics also lack toxins such as polyvinyl chloride that have raised health concerns and led California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation banning chemicals called phthalates from toys and baby products.

"This is a promising new technology that faces some challenges," said Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, a Falls Church, Va.-based nonprofit. "But we don't view them as insurmountable, if the industry is willing to face them head-on."

Some of those issues could be worked out by researchers at Michigan State University.

MSU in June was awarded a $50 million federal grant to speed up research and production of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

That's important because some of the same science used to make biofuels is used to make chemicals - and plastics - from plant sources, said Steven Pueppke, director of MSU's Office of Biobased Technologies.

"The analysis I often draw is the biorefinery is almost the same thing as the petrochemical refinery except instead of putting oil into the front end of the process, you put biomass in," Pueppke said.

The university effort is part of a larger regional and statewide push to develop a green industry - from alternative materials to chemicals to biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Bring industry here?

Economic development officials hope to help university researchers and entrepreneurs turn MSU's discoveries into viable companies that could compete or supply the firms now marketing bioplastics.

"I don't see any reason why we couldn't do it here," Pueppke said. "For example, look at the automobile industry. There's just a huge amount of plastics and packaging that's associated with that industry and they're right here."

The plastics market's newest entrant is Mirel, from Cambridge, Mass.-based Metabolix Inc. It more easily biodegrades than rival materials - that is, it decays into material that can absorbed by the environment. And, unlike others, Mirel can break down in a backyard compost bin.

Its first consumer application came in July when Target began using it in gift cards at 129 stores.

Decatur, Ill.-based agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. provides corn feedstock for making Mirel, which requires genetically engineered bacteria to aid in fermentation.

The most widely used bioplastic, NatureWorks - a product of a subsidiary of Wayzata, Minn.-based food company Cargill Inc. - also is corn-based and biodegradable. It is made without genetically modified bacteria.

Some of the corn that goes into it is modified, raising environmental concerns on the sourcing end, but the company said protein from the corn is destroyed in processing.

NatureWorks already is used in dozens of products, including water bottles - an application unsuited to Mirel, which isn't transparent.

Two major conventional plastics makers - DuPont Co. and Brazilian chemical company Braskem SA - make recyclable bioplastic that isn't biodegradable, the first from corn and the second from sugar cane.

No figures are available on overall bioplastics production, but their makers acknowledge the products occupy a small niche in the global plastics market, which totals $250 billion and produces 360 billion pounds a year.

By comparison, the 300 million-pound capacity of NatureWorks' Nebraska production plant is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the market total.

For most biodegradable bioplastics, industrial compost plants are recommended. Those are few and far between.

The products are stable in places where microbes and moisture are minimal, as on a kitchen shelf. Metabolix officials said Mirel will decompose in a backyard compost within two months and about twice as slowly in soil, rivers, lakes or the ocean.

Few compost

But few Americans compost, and most who do try not to include paper products, let alone unfamiliar bioplastics.

"There's a lot more to it than saying it's scientifically and technologically possible to compost these materials," said Betty McLaughlin of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit in Glastonbury, Conn., that is encouraging greater materials recovery and recycling.

And, just as different types of petroleum-base plastic can't be mixed in recycling, bioplastics should not be mixed with any conventional plastic because even tiny quantities can irreparably contaminate some melted petroleum-based plastics that have higher melting points, Cornell said.

"The sustainability concept is taking hold broadly, including in the corporate sector," said McLaughlin. "But these materials face a long road gaining acceptance."

A major bump on that road will be the cost. But, in another chicken-and-egg paradox, growing the market for bioplastics is key to bringing down their price, industry leaders said. NatureWorks says its production costs are 10 percent to 20 percent above those of conventional plastics.

Companies buying Mirel pay about $2.50 a pound, compared with 70 cents to 90 cents for petroleum-based resin, although the price difference is expected to shrink as quantities grow and oil prices rise.

Lansing State Journal business reporter Jeremy W. Steele and Associated Press writer Mark Jewell contributed to this report.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/NEWS03/711190303/1004/news03