Denmark-based Agroplast wants to transform pig urine into plastic dinnerware and household items.
We all have to have dreams, I suppose.
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The company has essentially devised a way to better commercialize urea, a compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, found in urine.
Other animal waste products like manure can be inserted into the system, but pig urine is particularly interesting because it is an environmental hazard, says Peter Tøttrup, a partner at Seed Capital, a Danish venture firm that also helps the government incubate start-ups. We ran into Tøttrup at the coffee urn at the NordicGreen conference in Menlo Park, Calif., this week.
"There are 20 million pigs in Denmark, and what they do environmentally is a problem," he said.
Transforming farm waste into plastic precursors is potentially attractive over other bioplastic ideas because the feedstock effectively has no value. In fact, it has negative value because animal waste must be disposed, which costs money. Some other bioplastic companies make their resins out of corn starch.
Tøttrup claims that the process could, conceivably, result in plastics that cost a third less than conventional plastics made from fossil fuels. That's a big conceivably. Traditionally, bioplastics made of vegetable matter have cost more than fossil fuel plastics. Evaluation of the pricing will have to wait until large volumes of this stuff are made. Agroplast is going into a pilot study now, Tøttrup said.
Agroplast says its farm-friendly chemicals have other uses too. They can be used as fertilizers, as an ingredient in lotions, and "as a flavor enhancer in cigarettes," according to the company's Web site.
That puts a new spin on the good, clean taste of Kools.
First came the biodegradable fork, then the compostable coffee cup, and now "earth friendly" toys.
Green Toys said Friday that it will introduce a line of bioplastic toys in the fall. The first toys are classics aimed at babies and toddlers: a tea set, cookware, an indoor gardening kit, and the old shovel and pail.
Green on the inside: classic toys for children.
(Credit: Green Toys )Bioplastics company Cereplast is supplying the plastics to Green Toys. It will also provide NatureWorks plastic, which is made from poly lactic acid (PLA), another corn-based product.
Green Toys, which is exhibiting its gear at San Francisco International Gift Fair this week, is pitching its classic line of toys on their "greeness." Even the colorants used in the toys are biodegradable, supplied by PolyOne.
Bioplastics are becoming trendy. In addition to Cereplast, other companies are investing in similar technologies, including Metabolix. Brazilian chemical company Braskem has committed to making a version of polyethylene from sugar cane by late 2009.
Advocates say that bioplastics are better for the environment because they're made from renewable resources, like corn, rather than oil. And products can decompose within months, compared to decades like traditional plastics.
Are reusable shopping bags a thing of the future?
(Credit: Paper Nor Plastic)Since San Francisco is banning petroleum-based, throwaway plastic bags at store checkout counters, I've wondered if clean-tech companies would rush to supply shops with a bioplastic, biodegradable, two-handle alternative. Other plasticky disposables, like forks at organic takeout eateries, are made from corn, potatoes, and other crops these days.
Alas, things fall apart, especially biodegradable bags holding anything biological (steer clear of my kitchen compost bin). There are plenty of compostable baggies for sandwiches, pooper scoopers, or yard waste. Yet after calling a bunch of bioplastic bag makers, I found that compost-ready bags in shopping-bag sizes don't seem to exist.
Instead, reusable, designer shopping totes are on the rise. Purses for pooches? So ... Read more
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