Much of this article came from the Smithsonian Magazine written by Elizabeth Royte – to whom we owe our gratitude. Near Blair, Nebraska is the largest lactic acid plant in the world. Into one end goes corn, and out the other comes white pellets, which some say is the future of plastic. The substance is …
Last week we explored using biomass as fuel, and some of the implications in doing that. Previously we looked at using biomass in the world of fabrics and furnishings, which include the new biotech products polylactic acid (PLA) (DuPont’s Ingeo and Sorona fibers) and soy-based foam for upholstery (click here and here to see our …
From last week’s blog post, we discussed how bio based plastics do indeed save energy during the production of the polymers, and produce fewer greenhouse gasses during the process. Yet right off the bat, it could be argued that carbon footprints may be an irrelevant measurement, because it has been established that plants grow more …
The first plastic garbage bag was invented by Harry Waslyk in 1950. 1950! Mr. Waslyk could not have predicted how much havoc his plastic child would wreck in a mere 62 years.[1] We’ve all seen the pictures of birds stomachs filled with plastic detritus and read about the Great Pacific Gyre, but I just read …
Synthetic polymers have experienced almost exponential growth since 1950, and today about 5% of world oil production is used for that purpose. In fact, we will need 25% or more of the current oil production for making polymers by the end of this century. Some synthetic polymers are used to make fibers, and they have …
There is no legal definition of “biodegradable,” so the term has been used loosely by some manufacturers. The American Society for Testing and Materials defines the term as “a degradation caused by biological activity, especially by enzymatic action, leading to a significant change in the chemical structure of the material.” The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) …
OEcotextiles 