Teacher in charge : Kuan Man Yong Group members name: *Pretika Irani a/p Gunasingam * Sre...
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Transcript of Teacher in charge : Kuan Man Yong Group members name: *Pretika Irani a/p Gunasingam * Sre...
SMK CONVENT (M) KAJANG
Teacher in charge : Kuan Man Yong Group members name: *Pretika Irani a/p
Gunasingam * Sre
Shamantha Hashita Shamaganah Vishnu Priya a/p Manisegar
Bioplastics are the alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, and are commonly made from corn, soy, sugar cane, or maize, and are thought to be a better source than petroleum-based plastic because they biodegrade - or at least can break down within a year under the right conditions. The Freedonia Group estimates that the demand for bioplastics will increase 20% every year through 2010, with film, bottles and food service products being the largest markets.
There are additional downsides to this increase in bioplastics, the first being that using corn, soy, maize and sugar cane, etc for packaging is increasing food shortage problems in certain parts of the world. The second is that there are concerns over increased methane emissions from the breakdown of these plastics during recycling. Corn can't be recycled with traditional plastic because the polylactic acid present in the corn-plastic will ruin the petroleum-plastic waste stream.
Makers of bioplastics include Novamont, Primo, which makes bottled-water from corn-based plastic, Wheatware and Natureworks. Novamont and Natureworks both report that production of bioplastics is less energy intensive than producing petroleum-based plastic products.
The Consortium is made up of representatives such as brand owners, recyclers, retailers, NGO's and academia. With this wide range in view points, they also get a complete view of the entire waste stream, so that the bioplastics can be recovered and turned into something that is useful for another use, indefinitely, in theory offering a truly sustainable product.