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Bioplastic - As Green as Possible!
#1
Rainbow 
Modern society is growing exponentially. Wave of industrialization at the beginning of the 19th century accelerated the life style. That period is most famous for a rapid development of a numerous machines that speeded up production of consumer goods and brought us couple of new materials that were fast to produce, ease to use and applicable in so many aspects of our life. Plastic (beside the rubber developed at the same time) and all kind of items made of plastic soon became inevitable and very important part of our lifestyle.

Parkesine is the first known plastic patented by Alexander Parks in 1856th year. It consisted of cellulose treated with nitric acid. The obtained material was not particularly strong and didn't last for a long period of time, but it paved a path for further plastic development. First synthetic plastic called bakelite emerged in the early 20th century when Baekeland start experimenting with phenol and formaldehyde. He mixed them and ended up with non-conductive and heat resistant material that served perfectly as electric insulator. Even thought at the beginning plastic was made out of natural materials its future development was more focused on synthetic polymers where polystyrene, polyvinyl, nylon...were the most famous ones. Today’s plastic is made out of fossil fuels (petroleum) almost exclusively.

Bags, containers of different size and shape, bottles, phones, remote controls, handles on refrigerators, garbage cans, watering cans, light switches, chairs.... plastic is all over the place! Manufacturing process is relatively simple and inexpensive and plastic is available everywhere on the planet to be used for numerous purposes. But plastic has a dark side. Huge amount of CO2 is released during production of plastic which directly increases greenhouse effect and plastic waste contribute greatly to the overall pollution of the planet. Plastic can’t be degraded by microorganisms as it is artificial material and microorganisms don’t have enzymes necessary to digest it. Roughly estimated, lifespan of the plastic bag is between 500 and 1000 years. I have read somewhere that Chinese people spend three billion plastic bags a day! I bet that 2.9 billion end up in the nature.

Bags and other items made of plastic are considered one of the biggest natural pollutants and besides "decorating" plants in cities they can be fatal to wildlife. Birds can easily tangle their beaks or wings in a plastic bag; sea animals could swallow plastic waste because they could easily mix it with something that is normally found in their environment.... Sad story of that kind are endless.

Modern society are trying to solve the problem of excess plastic waste by sorting and recycling it, by stimulating eco-consciousness in humans and by penalties for improper disposal of garbage ...

What truly can solve the problem and save the planet is creation of biodegradable plastics.

Unlike "classic plastic", biodegradable plastics are made of natural materials: corn starch, pea starch, vegetable oil... Like conventional plastics, biodegradable plastic have very diverse applications: it’s used for packaging (various types of food and drink containers), for insulation, medical implants (that will be broken down within the body after a while), for compostable mulch films that protect crops from weeds and conserve moisture (there’s no need to collected them later since they are biodegradable and will break down on their own after a while)… Most biodegradable plastic items are disposable instead to be used multiple times.

50% of biodegradable plastics in the world are made out of starch. The addition of sorbitol and glycerin are providing typical "plastic" structure. Remaining 50% of bioplastics are generated by treating cellulose, or our of polylactic acid (cane sugar and glucose are starting points in this technology), out of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (after treating sugar, starch, waste water with certain kind of bacteria), polyhydroxyalkanoates (using bacteria that ferment sugar and fat)....

Although today's bioplastics manufacturing techniques are expensive, demand for that particular type of plastic and its widespread use will inevitably reduce their price. We should start working on our eco awareness and we should reduce unnecessary plastic consumption to a minimum. Looking in the long term, that way we could improve the health of our planet along with its inhabitant. We should all go green as much as possible!
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