Page 39 - Packaging News Magazine Jan-Feb 21

January-February 2021 | www.packagingnews.com.au BIOPLASTICS | UPDATE
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more informed material choices to facilitate our consume and go life- style – the rate of bio-based take up by brand owners over the past twelve months has laboured to keep pace with rather than chip away at fossil- based. With both predicted to achieve annual 6 per cent compound growth up until 2025, the market landscape is unlikely to materially alter.
“There are numerous factors limit- ing adoption, not least the low price of crude oil by comparison with a far more expensive bio-based option,” notes New York based Technon OrbiChem consultant Doris de Guzman. “Other commercial barriers include lack of scale, low levels of supply and high investment risks. Equally hard to address is the widely held view that growing crops to make bioplastics diverts land away from food production.”
That latter accusation has proved intractable to refute. In plain terms, of the 1.4bn availability of hectares of arable land worldwide approximately 0.7m hectares is utilised for bio-based materials (0.0015 per cent), carrying forward 1.24bn that goes to food and feed (86 per cent). And while the bio- based allotment will rise to 1.1m hect- ares by 2025 – an increase of 57 per cent – it’s still a drop in the agrarian ocean. Taking into account that some of the global availability of the addi- tional 3.3bn hectares of pasture could be redeployed due to the lower con- sumption of meat and dairy products, concerns over optimal land use are patently groundless.
‘Green-wash’ is a less nonsensical consumer misperception since evi- dence of it will persist as long as there’s a quick buck to be made. Caveat emptor would be simpler to exercise were there a clearer understanding of the bioplastics small-print, not least with regard to the distinction between compostables and drop-ins. Greater clarity is essential, says Borealis stra- tegic platform leader for circular econ- omy solutions Stephan Roest.
“Growth needs to be greater and faster; not only to feed into the circu- lar economy but to address climate change issues and meet targets being set for 2050,” Roest says. “To achieve this we need to educate the customer