BIOPLASTICS ROADMAP & PROCESS

Beginning in fall 2004, Future 500 convened a series of meetings with multi-sector stakeholders  - NGOs, Manufacturers and Converters, Users and Potential Users, Municipal Waste Managers -- interested in the recycling, composting, and sustainability issues raised by the introduction of bioplastics, specifically PLA because it is the most widely available bioplastic on the market today.

The participants saw the value in the introduction of bioplastics into the marketplace, as a means to reduce petroleum dependence, increase composting, and promote zero waste.  Concerns were raised about how to advance bioplastics while also advancing more sustainable agriculture (reducing GMO use, for example), and how to market PLA to advance composting and recycling, without letting marketing claims get too far ahead of the ability of waste collection infrastructure to handle the material.

The participants also recognized that a transformative industry cannot be deployed instantly.  It can only emerge over time, through a process of collaborative evolution and development.  Toward that end, the participants began to outline a roadmap for the development of an increasingly thriving and sustainable bioplastic marketplace.

Future 500 consolidated and organized stakeholder feedback into a document to reflect the consensus guidelines and target benchmarks that emerged from the discussions.  While the guidelines focus solely on bioplastics, they could be useful in considering sustainability impacts of other bio-based materials.  Please download and review the document, which we hope proves informative and useful to you.  Further, we invite further feedback from all interested parties as it only with the help of multiple stakeholders that we can progress solutions that enhance global sustainability.

Download the Bioplastic Guidelines (PDF)

We also wish to direct your attention to a complementary biopolymers guidelines process underway that can also provide those interested in bioplastics further useful information on this emerging technology.  A coalition of consumer, environmental, agricultural and social justice groups and major purchasers have continued discussions on a range of related issues in the life cycle of biopolymers. A comprehensive set of guidelines for a sustainable biopolymer industry are under development, including specific criteria for major buyers to use in purchasing products made from biopolymers. For more information, click here.