Recently it happened again; a discussion on social media between ‘experts’ who were talking about the qualities of biobased and circular packaging. Unfortunately, this time also a discussion that was largely based on commercial drive and gut feelings. Very unfortunate and unnecessary. Over the years, so much (scientific) knowledge has been gathered about the meaning and usefulness of biobased products and packaging that these kinds of discussions are more a form of digital pollution than have added value in creating a sustainable and circular world. .
Perhaps against your better judgement, here’s another attempt to share nuances and facts regarding biobased packaging with you. I realize that as the sender of this message I am very suspicious and in the view of many I am ‘preaching to the choir, but believe me, I am making this attempt based on my conviction that biobased products and packaging can contribute to a circular world.
This time I would like to talk about PLA as a raw material and PLA trays as a packaging solution. In order not to bore you with long stories, I will do this in a compact form in which I will disprove some prejudices and nonsense based on facts:
1. The production of PLA is an attack on the world’s food needs
Many doomsayers would have you believe that the production of PLA is a major drain on raw materials needed to feed the world. It is true that the production of PLA requires raw materials that are also used for human consumption (usually sugar), but that the amount required for the production of PLA would lead to famine is sheer nonsense. Research has shown that for the production of Bioplastics in general (PLA is only part of this), only 0.02% of the total surface area of useful agricultural land will be needed in 2020. I think this figure speaks for itself, further explanation is unnecessary. For imaging, 1/3 of all food produced is wasted, so if you’re concerned about famine, I’d focus on that.
2. As a raw material, PET is much more sustainable for food packaging than PLA
Another hobbyhorse of conventional thinking enthusiasts; PET is a sustainable raw material with which a circular economy can be realized. The starting point for this assumption is the idea that PET as a raw material is easily recyclable and thus a packaging cycle can be closed. Reference is made to the success achieved with PET bottles. Unfortunately for these conventional thinkers, PET bottles are the exception to the rule that PET packaging is sustainable and will contribute to a circular economy. The reason is very simple: PET packaging is usually made up of too many different base materials, making recycling impossible. Which means; you can make granulate from it again by mechanical recycling, but the granulate can never be used again as a raw material for the packaging for which it first served. The quality is completely insufficient for that. There is therefore no question of recycling, but of downcycling. And I don’t think it’s possible to fill the entire country with plastic posts made from recycled material from old packaging…
3. PLA shells create ambiguity in the disposable phase
Here we can be very clear and short: PLA cannot be thrown wrong. If it is up to us, PLA packaging will be thrown away with the PMD waste and separated from the rest of the PMD waste by means of NIR technology. Research has shown that PLA can be separated with 97% purity – a higher separation degree than most traditional plastics (WRAP study 2008). The PLA packaging can then be recycled (= breakdown back to its building blocks) and after a post-treatment phase can be used again as raw virgin material for new packaging. And just to be clear: the same type of packaging from which the granulate is obtained. There is therefore no need for depreciation for the application, which means that there is no downcycling as is the case with traditional plastics in most cases.
However, if consumers accidentally throw the PLA packaging away with the green waste, then there is no man overboard. The PLA packaging we offer all complies with the EN13432 standard and is therefore compostable. Now the composters want the uninformed to believe that these packaging disrupt the composting process because it would take too long for a PLA packaging to decompose into compost. However, scientific research by WUR has shown that PLA packaging composts better than the average banana peel. During the study, some PLA packaging even broke down within 11 days.
And if the PLA packaging accidentally ends up in the gray bin, which I sincerely hope does not happen, the packaging can also simply be processed in this waste stream.
In any case, you still have about 70% CO2 advantage compared to PET packaging when incinerated. In addition, PLA products and packaging are made from renewable raw materials that are produced sustainably.
I started this piece titled PLA: Pretty Life Ahead. I hope that by reading this article you will understand why I have replaced Poly Lactid Acid with three other words that I believe indicate the added value of PLA for a sustainable, circular world. And then I haven’t even mentioned the product qualities and material properties. In short, PLA gives the world a beautiful life ahead.
