[S.RAGAVI]

Hey ,

Just go through this link http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-27242009000100007&lng=en&nrm=iso&ignore=.html 

Found this page interesting . It gives a brief idea of bioplastics as a business  and its challenges in the real world.

[Piyush Uthra]

Its awesome! We can easily make slides out of it!

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Regards,

Piyush Uthra

Second Year Undergraduate

Department of Biotechnology

IIT Madras

[maunish7]

The link provided by Ragavi is really a good one.

The only pain is it is too big.

So for all those who haven't gone through the summary.

PFA the attachment. I have attached the summary.

the summary is,

Many factors that drive innovation in the in bioplastic industry are derived in collaboration with technology push and demand pull.

Four major problems for setting up a bioplastic business are :-

• Investing in different technology which lies beyond the company's traditional scope.

• Require involvement of all organizational units of corporate management system like Marketing, R&D, Manufacturing, Quality Management etc.

• Significant financial commitment associated with introduction of bioplastic program.

• Environmental pressure is different in different areas.

Current uses of Lactic acid :-

1. Animal feed

2. Food products

3. Cosmetic

4. Pharmaceutical industry.

5. Chemical industry

6. Medical applications

7. Bioplastic.

What gives bioplastic leverage :-

1. increasing environmental concern.

2. Unsustainable nature of fossil fuel plastics.

3. Increasing petroleum costs.

For petroleum based plastics mechanical recycling is neither practical nor economical when it is used in :-

• waste bags

• agricultural mulch sheets

• food packaging

these are the areas where bioplastics have leverage.

100% PLA is not mechanically that strong and also it is not heat resistant. Because of these characteristics its use is limited.

Commercial bioplastics nowadays are mainly used as copolymers.

Marketing of bioplastics is driven by their performance and the performance characteristics are enhanced by blending with other materials.

These copolymers are used in the automobile industry.

In the rapidly and radically evolving environment of recent decades, innovation is no longer a matter of profitability but it has become a critical survival factor for companies.

Cradle to grave analysis w.r.t cost and non renewable energy needs to be done for the bioplastic we produced and that data need to be compared with that already available for different petroleum based plastics.

Starch cellulose and fibers that could be used in PLA blends without significantly reducing performance would be of great commercial interest.

Materials based on renewable energy are often assumed to be of low quality or inferior performance. This negative or non-existent consumer perception has significant impact on the market for renewable materials.

Import tax for polylactic acid is still in the not a separate category but it comes in the family of aliphatic poly esters. This shows the sheer ignorance of the government and the various policies on this issue.

To increase sales of environmentally friendly products like ours, companies must remove these five barriers :-

1. Lack of Awareness

2. Negative perception

3. Distrust.

4. High Prices.

5. Low availability.

It is no surprise that most people value performance, reliability and durability much more than ecological soundness.

The government and Non-profits must often participate actively to achieve long lasting changes in consumer behavior but Businesses should play a leading role.