Eco-Friendly Bio-Plastics

February 2, 2004 Off By leigh

Courtesy of Kirsty, a report of a plastic and clay composite which reduces hydro-carbon use. Also, use of feathers in plastic production has recently been reported. While we shouldn’t need further animal products to replace wood fibre use, clearly other fibre products could offer similar benefits, particularly hardy fibres such as hemp and flax.


Courtesy of Kirsty, a report of a plastic and clay composite which reduces hydro-carbon use. Also, use of feathers in plastic production has recently been reported. While we shouldn’t need further animal products to replace wood fibre use, clearly other fibre products could offer similar benefits, particularly hardy fibres such as hemp and flax.

If governments spent a tiny fraction of the subsidies they give to the petro-chemical industry on alternative materials and energy research and development, the social returns would be immense.

That is not to say some large corporations are not making the shift on their own due to the profit motive. Toyota announced in July last year it is building a bio-plastics factory to produce plastics from renewable material such as sugar-cane.

The issue then becomes for first world countries to move together towards more sustainable materials (with bio-degradability) production. A reticent U.S.A could well find itself missing a shift in consumer demand, met by such Japanese and other countries long term planning companies.