Few areas of the food industry are experiencing the same level of technological development seen in packaging. In particular, the still-emerging segment of bioplastics seems stuck in permanent beta. Just as things seem to settle down, something new happens to throw the whole bioplastics business back into flux.
This is one of those times.
Here are four developments from just the past few months in bioplastic packaging for food that you need to know about.
Sugar cane gains traction
The bioplastics industry is often thought of as a subset of the corn industry. And certainly corn, which is produced at low cost and at tremendous volume in the United States, has been a common feedstock for bioplastics here.
But new sources of raw material for bioplastic, such as rice starch, are attracting research and investment dollars. And among the non-corn feedstocks, sugar cane is becoming the most popular of all.
Earlier this month, Nature & More, a Netherlands-based global distributor of organic produce, began using — and selling — containers made from sugar cane. It's first major customer for the new plastic is the French supermarket giant Carrefour.
Nature & More's new plastic arrives just as Coca-Cola's Plantbottle technology, which has been in use since 2009, gains wider distribution.
The Plantbottle is a recyclable container made partially from sugar cane. Food producers such as Odwalla and Heinz have been customers, but now consumers are being sold on the Plantbottle directly. It's central to the marketing of new souvenir cups from SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks.
Coke also likes PEF now
Building bioplastics requires knowing a lot about chemistry. But even just talking about bioplastics requires knowing a teeny bit. For example, Coke's Plantbottle uses a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin.
But one of the hottest new trends in bioplastics involves polyethylene furanoate (PEF), which is 100% plant-based. Both Coca-Cola and Danone teamed with biotech developer Avantium in 2012 to promote research into PEF bottles.
And just last month, Avantium received a new round of funding from those two companies, prompting speculation that Coke would like to walk away from PET, if PEF proves a viable alternative.
Bioplastics start to make consumers nervous
Bioplastics are, almost certainly, better for the environment than traditional, petroleum-based plastics. But they're not perfect. And in 2014, it seems that consumers have begun to find that out.
For example, the overwhelming majority of plastics made from plants can't be composted (outside of an industrial composting unit). Stick them in a landfill, and they'll stay there until roughly the end of time, just like a bottle made from petroleum.
In addition, genetically modified corn is common in much of the world's bioplastic production. And some of the same consumers and activists who are upset about GMO corn in their food are worried about food inside of plastics made with GMO corn.
Much of the bad publicity that is suddenly circulating about bioplastics is being generated by the petroleum-based plastics industry. But that doesn't change the fact that bioplastics may be losing a bit of their "green" cachet.
Food processors want to be plastics producers
Certainly the bioplastics news that has attracted the most attention this year was the announcement by Heinz that it had teamed with Ford Motors to study the creation of plastic car parts made from tomatoes.
The idea is that Heinz would be able to generate revenue from the seeds, skins, and peels that are left behind in the ketchup-making process. Bio-waste much further upstream in food production is already key to bioplastics production. The Heinz experiment may point the way toward an entirely new source of feedstock at numerous food processors.
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