Paper or (Biodegradable)
Plastic?
It can take a plastic bottle between 500 and 1,000 years to
biodegrade. A professor at the University of Florida (UF) is trying
to bring that number down to 10 with research that could have
a tremendous impact on our fragile environment.
Dr. Stephen Miller, UF associate professor of chemistry, is
developing technology that would use the byproduct of
processed sugar cane in creating a new plastic that degrades
in 10 years in the presence of water.
The technology has become the focus of his newly formed
company, U.S. Bioplastics, where he serves as CTO,
alongside CEO Lee Strait. To further develop the plastic for
commercialization, they teamed up with The Corridor on a
Matching Grants Research Program (MGRP) project.
“Today’s plastic was not designed for one-time use when
it was created more than 100 years ago,” Strait said. “The
height of the industrial revolution called for cheap items
that will last. And they do. Plastics last for generations.”
The need for water being present in order for a rapid
breakdown using the new technology is important as many
used plastics ind a home in the world’s oceans, forming giant
trash regions (some the size of Texas or bigger) that get stuck
in ocean currents. These loating landills endanger marine life
as ish, turtles, seals, birds and others ingest the plastic or are
trapped by plastic pieces.
Several patents have been issued and some are pending for
the new plastic coined Gatoresin. Miller worked with a postdoctoral student at UF to collect the sugar cane waste and
extract data for the project. Corridor funding helped buy a
new reactor and scaled up the operation.
Gatoresin is not only environmentally friendly, but also a product
that breaks a dependency on oil for the production of plastic.
It can be created from corn leaves and stalks, plus sugar beet
pulp, utilizing the byproducts of food that mostly go to waste.
An alternative plastic currently exists; however, it is derived from
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corn starch, sugar cane and other potential
food sources, not their byproducts. The
continued use of this alternative could deplete
food supplies and has limitations on the
temperature of contents it can carry. Coffee
cups of this material are out of the question.
Gatoresin is a solution to both issues.
“Historically, the plastics industry has been
seen as dirty,” said Miller. “I want to reverse
that. I think someone will pull this off and I
hope we are the ones.”
The challenge is creating Gatoresin at a low
cost, but Miller is excited for the opportunity to
create a positive impact on the environment
that could last generations.