Every day, approximately 8,000,000 pieces of plastic make their way into the world’s oceans and plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world.
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IDTechEx forecasts 3.05% growth for bioplastics
Bioplastics such as polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates and polybutyl succinate, are biodegradable and can have similar, if not identical, functionalities to their fossil-based counterparts. Yet, despite their environmental benefits, bioplastics are still struggling to wrestle marketshare away from conventional plastics.
The new IDTechEx report, “Bioplastics 2020-2025”, explores the factors helping and hindering the adoption of bioplastics.
There are several barriers to more widespread adoption of bioplastics. The major issue is that they are still more expensive to produce, and – despite a majority of consumers saying they want brands that are sustainable – few are willing to pay extra. Oil prices fell in 2014 and have stayed low since, making it difficult for bioplastics to compete. As a finite resource, oil prices cannot remain this low forever, but until prices rise bioplastics producers will have to work hard to cut production costs.
Another issue is that despite demonstrating proof of concepts in an academic setting, the transition to industrial-scale production is far from straightforward – many companies have gone bankrupt trying to make the jump. A conservative approach and the complexity of high-volume fermentation do not marry well. Furthermore, there is a dearth of capital investment from VCs and governments.
Governments, however, are increasingly introducing policy changes. In 2018, the EU updated its Bioeconomy Strategy, making funding available for circular economy projects. Bioplastics companies are increasingly employing innovative technical approaches to reduce costs, including using synthetic biology. However, it will still be a difficult road forward for bioplastics. The new report by IDTechEx provides a detailed technical evaluation of bioplastics and outlines the way forward.