{"id":2095,"date":"2024-12-11T19:13:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T19:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leyton.majjane.agency\/ca\/post\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\/"},"modified":"2024-12-11T19:13:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T19:13:47","slug":"bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/en\/insights\/articles\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\/","title":{"rendered":"Bioplastics: The solution to environmental plastic contamination?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to address the pervasive environmental and health issues associated with the use of plastics in society, several industries have pivoted towards the use of so-called biodegradable plastics or <strong>bioplastics<\/strong> to produce a variety of products, with the promise that these plastics are less harmful to the environment than traditional plastics. But what are they and what are their supposed environmental benefits?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bioplastic and Their Benefits<\/h2>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>While the terms <strong>bioplastics<\/strong> and biodegradable plastics are often used interchangeably, they designate different types of products. Indeed, <strong>bioplastics<\/strong> typically designate plastics that were produced partly or entirely from biomass, while biodegradable or compostable plastics can be degraded by living organisms or other processes but can be produced from any source.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>In the first case, <strong>bioplastics <\/strong>are often presented as a more ecological alternative to traditional plastics due to the fact that they do not originate from fossil fuel sources. Fortunately, this is true to a certain extent, and reducing the use of fossil fuels does indeed have benefits for the environment such as reducing the <a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/sustainability-invest-in-your-clean-technology-projects\/\">carbon footprint <\/a>associated with plastics production while also having the potential to valorize traditionally discarded biomass feedstocks. However, despite their more ecological origin, bioplastics still suffer from the same issues as traditional plastics once they are disposed of, and can become persistent environmental contaminants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/3\/files\/2024\/11\/bioplastic-1024x349.png\" alt=\"bioplastics\" class=\"wp-image-33126\" \/><\/figure>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>In the second case, <strong>biodegradable<\/strong> or compostable plastics would seem to be the answer to environmental plastic contamination, where they should degrade naturally in the environment and eventually form something resembling compost. However, this is far from true, and the vast majority of these plastics require special conditions such as high temperatures or the presence of specialized microbes or enzymes to deteriorate properly. What is worse, some <strong>compostable <\/strong>plastics don\u2019t actually fully degrade, and instead simply break down into microplastics, which can further exacerbate <a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/sustainability-invest-in-your-clean-technology-projects\/\">environmental contamination<\/a> issues. At any rate, this type of plastic does not seem to offer any advantage over traditional plastics if they end up in landfill, and will lead to the same environmental issues.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>That said, the situation is not as dire as some would have you believe, and these types of plastics do offer opportunities for society to resolve some of the issues associated with their use, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental contamination. Through continued investments in the development of post-consumer processing and treatment technologies, we could reap the benefits of these new types of materials and create a truly circular plastics economy. One promising avenue for this is the development of technologies which would allow consumers to biodegrade their own used plastics with specialized waste treatment systems, and while these technologies aren\u2019t fully realized yet, they could have a strong impact the plastic\u2019s industry <a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/sustainability-invest-in-your-clean-technology-projects\/\">environmental footprint<\/a> by reducing the need for transport and external treatment. So don\u2019t lose hope! The use of consumer plastics is here to stay, but at least we may manage to keep them out of the <a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/sustainability-invest-in-your-clean-technology-projects\/\">environment <\/a>in our lifetime.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Companies that are innovating in this sector are likely to be eligible for several funding programs including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/government-grants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">government grants,<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/tax-credits\/sred-already-claiming\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SR&amp;ED<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Want to learn about funding opportunities for your project? <a href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/contact-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Schedule a free consultation with one of our experts today!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/en\/contact-us\/\">Contact Us<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to address the pervasive environmental and health issues associated with the use of plastics in society, several industries have pivoted towards the use of so-called biodegradable plastics or bioplastics to produce a variety of products, with the promise that these plastics are less harmful to the environment than traditional plastics. But what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2809,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[286,913,124],"tags":[363,114,557],"expertise":[],"class_list":["post-2095","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biotech","category-innovation-en-sujets-dinteret-en","category-sustainability","tag-biotechnology","tag-innovation-en","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.1 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bioplastics: The solution to environmental plastic contamination? - Leyton Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bioplastics have been praised as a potential solution to reduce the carbon footprint of the plastics industry, however the truth is...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/en\/insights\/articles\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bioplastics: The solution to environmental plastic contamination?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bioplastics have been praised as a potential solution to reduce the carbon footprint of the plastics industry, however the truth is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/ca\/en\/insights\/articles\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leyton Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leyton.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/3\/files\/2024\/12\/bioplastics-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leyton.com\\\/ca\\\/en\\\/insights\\\/articles\\\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leyton.com\\\/ca\\\/en\\\/insights\\\/articles\\\/bioplastics-the-solution-to-environmental-plastic-contamination\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bioplastics: The solution to environmental plastic contamination? 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