In Canada, Canadian farmers are looking to reduce waste, and plant-based plastics are an increasingly popular alternative as part of a growing Canadian bioeconomy. Creating exciting new options for Canadian farmers, while supporting them in responsibly managing on-farm plastic waste, is helping to build a healthier economy and environment. Today the Minister of Agriculture and […]
As we wrap up 2020 this week, The Digest brings you the hottest Top 10 slide guides from this crazy year where we tried our best to make lemonade from lemons! So what did you click on the most this year? What slide guides did you find the most intriguing? In today’s Digest, we look […]
What does plastic have to do with the bioeconomy? Well, everything. It’s about taking plastic waste, breaking it down into building blocks and converting it into a valuable treasure and it’s about creating biobased plastics. News from the U.S. Department of Energy on their $27 million in funding for plastics recycling and new biobased plastics […]
In Germany, researchers at the Goethe University Frankfurt and PlastX have found that bioplastics contain toxic chemicals similar to those found in petrochemical plastics. The team investigated 43 biodegradable and biobased products, including wine corks, drinking bottles, chocolate packaging, and disposable tableware. Analysis showed that 80% of products contained over a thousand chemical substances. “Three-quarters […]
In Massachusetts, Wyss Institute Research scientists are taking on the challenge of developing sustainable plastics that provide the same properties as fossil-based plastics and are cheap but are also biodegradable that don’t require the use of plants at all, and have a negligible carbon footprint: microbes. They honed in on a specific microbe called Cupriavidus […]
In Germany, while is true that plastics made from corn, wheat, or sugarcane are, in principle, climate-neutral and protect declining oil reserves—a broad shift in consumption from conventional to bio-based materials could be bad news for the environment given the current state of technology. After all, plant based raw materials are produced on land and […]
In Illinois, perennial grasses can be converted into everything from ethanol to bioplastics, but it’s unclear which bioproducts hold the greatest potential. BioSTEAM, a new open-source simulation software package in Python developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, gives scientists, engineers, biotechnology companies, and funding agencies a fast, flexible tool to analyze […]
In Washington, DC, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) published a notice of intent to issue a joint Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “BOTTLE: Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment.” This FOA, jointly funded by the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Advanced Manufacturing […]
In the UK, the government us seeking evidence to help it develop standards for biodegradable, compostable and bio-based plastics, and an understanding of its environmental impacts through an open public consultation that closes October 14. The government wants to identify gaps and provide expert advice on: a) the overall sustainability of bio-based and biodegradable plastic […]
In Germany, bioplastics are often promoted as an environmentally and climate-friendly alternative to conventional petroleum-based plastics. However, a recent study from the University of Bonn suggests that shifting to plant-based plastics could have less positive effects than expected. Specifically, an increased consumption of bioplastics in the following years is likely to generate increased greenhouse gas […]
