Kickstart: Big funding boost for bioplastics

One of the questions around bioplastics has been how quickly it could be a viable alternative in the market to traditional fossil fuel-based plastics.

My colleague Frank Esposito reported this week on a positive sign for that — PHA maker Danimer Scientific going public, in a merger with an existing public company created to take others to stock markets.

The Bainbridge, Ga.-based firm announced it will list on the New York Stock Exchange later this year or early 2021. As part of the deal, Danimer is getting $210 million from a group of investors, including private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

The company's CEO told us that "Our big challenge is how quickly we can put capacity on. … Right now, we can sell everything we can make."

Danimer makes polyhydroxyalkanoate, a bioplastic that uses canola oil as its primary feedstock.

There seems to be a lot of interest in PHA. The Los Angeles Times, for example, reported Oct. 6 on a California startup, Cove, that's trying to commercialize bottled water packaged in PHA containers.

The startup reportedly has financial backing from Salesforce Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff and former News Corp. executive James Murdoch, among others.

From biopolymer funding to the potential for packaging fees to help pay for more recycling in the United States, a lot is changing these days in the plastics industry.

The plastics division of the American Chemistry Council recently came out in support of fees on packaging to generate funds for recycling, a big policy change for the group.

The industry's other big national trade group, the Plastics Industry Association, has made similar policy moves recently, saying that it, too, would be OK with fees on some of its products. Most of these plans envision fees on all packaging types, not just plastic.

It's a big policy move for the industry, coming in response to legislative pressure building in Congress and state legislatures around poor recycling rates and the costs those impose on governments.

Similar ideas have been supported recently by consumer product companies and others in the recycling industry.

And if you doubted the legislative interest, the U.S. Congress Oct. 1 passed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, a marine litter and plastic cleanup measure, but some lawmakers are pressing for more.

Finally, some of the challenges in recycling durable goods.

Sarah Kominek reported for us on Ford Motor Co. dropping its program to recycle plastic automobile bumper cores and the uncertainty that's thrown into the ecosystem built up over the last 15-20 years to do that.

Ford didn't provide a lot of information about why it was making the change, noting it came in response to dealers and collision repair shops.

But those in the automotive parts recycling industry told us it left them with more questions than answers. One called it "a terrible shame that we had to take a step backwards."

Those sources questioned the ability of both the independent dealers and repair shops to cost-effectively transport the bumpers to recyclers or rebuilding shops. They argue that there really aren't other programs to replace Ford's, unless the automaker has something else planned that it has not disclosed.

One thing is certain: It's a lot of plastic. Each month, there's likely at least 40,000 of the hulking, 6-pound, 6-foot-long plastic bumpers in the recycling stream from the program.