Here at BsaB Candles we use all natural and organic ingredients both in our products and in our packaging. For example our Bamboo Candles are covered with a thin PLA biodegradable plastic film adhered to the bamboo using an all natural glue. We have recieved several questions about our biodegradable plastic made from corn so we’ve decided to write about this today.

What is Biodegradable Plastic, PLA, or Corn Plastic?

This is a very valid and reasonable question. Did we just say plastic from corn not from oil? We sure did. Before we go into the biodegradable aspect of plastics it if important that we understand a bit about plastics.

First off plastics are amazing and have revolutionized the way our world works (for good and bad). Plastics can be found just about everywhere…our clothes (polyester, nylons, foams, glasses), cars (seats, seat-belts, dashboard, doors), houses (carpet, some paints, carpet padding, furniture), food (packaging, packaging, packaging), businesses (computers, printers, chairs), etc etc. Plastics can be found all over. Truly a versatile product, but it comes with many disadvantages as well.

The problem is that plastics are made from petroleum through chemical processes which use a lot of energy and cause much pollution. Plastics are also a non-renewable resource. And last but not least plastics are practically indestructable in that they take thousands and thousands of years to biodegrate or decompose (if they ever really do). Literally, Tons of Plastics are dumped into our landfills year after year, constantly building up and polluting our earth. In the Oceans there are massive ”floating landfills” with millions and millions of plastic bottles, bags and other plastic packaging. (For these and many more reasons it was an easy choice for BsaB Candles to use only 100% biodegradable plastics.)

It is easy to see the potential benefits from biodegradable plastics….but how is it done? “Corn plastic has been around for 20 years, but the polymer was too expensive for broad commercial applications until 1989, when Patrick Gruber, then a Cargill chemist looking for new ways to use corn, invented a way to make the polymer more efficiently. Working with his wife, also a chemist, he created his first prototype PLA products on his kitchen stove. In the beginning, it cost $200 to make a pound of PLA; now it’s less than $1.” source:Smithsonian The science behind the biodegradable plastic or PLA as it is called (polylactic acid) doesn’t seem very hard but it is the scaleability which makes it difficult. There were many problems with stability during the begining research stages. Whole containers of PLA had to be thrown-away (luckily it’s biodegradable) because the PLA couldn’t withstand high temperatures and would melt or warp in transit.

Ok already…So how is it made? The actual process is very cool, but perhaps the easiest way to see and learn for yourself is to direct you to a video about the PLA production.

Biodegradable Plastic Isn’t a Cure-All

We are anxious to see more use of biodegradable plastics and packaging and are excited to see new greener technologies emerge as well. PLA doesn’t fix our problems it is true as pointed out by TheDailyGreen here but they sure could help with future landfill waste.

Tags: biodegradable candles, biodegradable plastic, pla plastic

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under biodegradable plastic, earth friendly packaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.