Kevin Welsh holds up PHA pellets at the Danimer Scientific plant on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022 in Winchester, Ky. Companies are investing billions of dollars to ramp up production of plastics made from natural, renewable materials that can be safely composted or can biodegrade under the right conditions. Danimer Scientific is one of the companies making a big bet on bioplastic with its expansion of a plant.
Of the 9 billion tons of fossil fuel plastic produced since the 1950s, only 9% percent has been recycled, studies have shown. The rest has been buried in landfills, burned or has polluted land and waterways. The chemical structure of fossil fuel plastic means it can never fully disintegrate and instead breaks down into smaller and smaller particles.
Danimer Scientific is one company making a big bet on bioplastic with a recent expansion of its plant in Winchester, Kentucky, The Georgia-based firm makes a bioplastic called PHA using microorganisms that ferment with canola oil. The result is plastic pellets that manufacturers can use to mold products in the same way they use petrochemical plastic, Danimer CEO Stephen Croskrey said in an interview.
Researchers at McGill University in Montreal released a study in 2019 that said petroleum-based polyester tea bags leach billions ofwhen steeped in hot water. Around 60 billion cups of tea are consumed annually in the UK.
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