I would like to know what the biodegradable plastics degrade into? I assume the resulting end product of the degraded material is environmentally safe and not an issue.
Also are there times associated with the designation such that the material must degrade naturally within a given time in some normalized environmental condition?
Good question, Ivan. I would expect the breakdown wouldn't be quick enough for composting.
As an aside, one of Ann's sources is from the Freedonia Group. Freedonia, as many readers may know, is the fictional country the Marx Brothers were from in Duck Soup.
Thanks for your comments, Ivan. Biodegradable plastics biodegrade into CO2 and water, the ingredients that they started as. That's what biodegradable generally means. Here are some definitions from the SPI:
Ann, thanks for another great article. I think your article hit the nail on the head about the decision-making process. Most companies these days say that sustainability is important to them, but very few are willing to pay extra for it.
If Material A is more expensive than Material B, I can make a case to management for Material A if I can show that using Material A rather than Material B will lead to a marketable improvement in product performance, a reduction in warranty costs, or elimination of a manufacturing step. But I can't make a case to management that using Material A will reduce harm to the environment, because the environment doesn't directly affect the company's bottom line.
The only exceptions would be if costly regulations restricting the use of Material B are likely, or if it is a high profile application where the use of Material A could be taken advantage of for marketing purposes.
What this means is that bioplastics suppliers need to bring prices in line with petroleum-based plastics, or else offer convincing performance benefits. This article shows that the suppliers are aware of this, and are trying to make it a reality.
Dave, thanks for your comments. I hope to get some more detailed, targeted input on that decision-making process during design. The bioplastics performance is now equal to or better than petro-based plastics in many cases. Cost is also coming down. In some markets, mostly consumer-related, the sustainability argument is at least a starting point. For example, witness Ford's programs to incorporate an increasing proportion of recycled content in its materials from suppliers:
This was a great description of the spectrum of bio polymers available. The inclusion of big company players like Dupont and BASF is a good indication that bio polymers will become better and cheaper in time. The avaialability of engineering grade polyamides that use bio stock can open up the doors to companies to be green without sacrificing any product performance.
I suspect they wouldn't degrade very quickly in a compost pile, either, but I wouldn't assume that's necessarily true. In any case, they do degrade, and In my experience as a gardener, the best compost piles made from n normal household waste should age for about 2 years or so before using them.
Plastics ands elastomers, thanks for commenting, but I don't speak Asian languages or read their scripts, nor do most of our readers. Can you try writing again in English? We'd like to know what you wrote.
Thanks for your comments, Tim. I was surprised at how far engineering bioplastics have come, and encouraged at the performance gains they've continued to make, as well as the gradually decreasing price differential.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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