Bioplastics a missing element in treaty talks

For some in the bioplastics industry, the plastics treaty talks are missing a big opportunity to support alternatives to fossil-fuel-based polymers.

Backers of the niche sector, which today only account for about 1 percent of plastics production, came to the treaty talks in Kenya to argue that negotiators are glossing over a root problem in the treaty — cutting the link between plastics and climate warming extraction of fossil fuels.

"The root cause is we're making materials out of oil, which are not degradable, and we stuff them with dangerous chemicals," said Maximillian Lackner, scientific adviser for the bioplastics trade group Go PHA. "We are here to convince delegates that bioplastics are at the core of the solution and urge for their explicit inclusion in the next version of the [treaty] draft."

But Lackner and his bioplastics colleagues appear to have work in front of them.

Environmental groups at the talks said countries were asking a lot of questions about bio-based and biodegradable plastics, with diplomats unsure how to view them and their environmental impacts.

A report from a group of Nordic nations ahead of the Kenya meeting, for example, said there was still too much uncertainty around bioplastics to include them among 15 policy options that they proposed.

But the small group of bioplastics delegates to this round of talks, held Nov. 13-19 at United Nations offices in Nairobi, said moving away from oil and other fossil-based plastics is where the agreement should go.

"If you take a step back, there is so much evidence that standard plastics give a lot of damage," Lackner said, pointing to the climate impact of using fossil fuel feedstocks, potentially toxic additives in petrochemical plastics and the creation of microplastics when they break down.

Ahead of the Kenya meeting, Go PHA told treaty organizers in a formal submission that alternatives to fossil-based plastics had been "grossly underrepresented" in earlier rounds of the talks. The group developed a treaty website and a video outlining priorities.

Other bioplastics groups were also there. Brussels-based European Bioplastics e.V. sent delegates from its member companies, who urged negotiators to include targets for non-fossil plastics in the treaty to better align it with the Paris Climate Agreement.

EUBP delegates declined to speak on the record at the meeting, but the group issued a written statement noting some progress. It cited European Union nations supporting non-fossil targets in the treaty and recognizing a need for sustainability criteria for bioplastic feedstocks.

"The instrument can be further developed to more clearly promote the use of biodegradable and compostable plastics in the provision on alternative plastics," EUBP said. "EUBP fully supports reducing the growing negative climate impact of plastics by replacing virgin fossil feedstocks with non-fossil biobased feedstocks."

Go PHA, which represents makers of polyhydroxyalkanoate bioplastics, wants the treaty organizers to appoint a science advisory board to look at the merits of plastic alternatives, identify standards to guide a transition with details on how the materials could address pollution challenges "without sacrificing the benefits of plastics."

The treaty's initial draft, debated at the Kenya meeting, included only a brief mention of bioplastics among alternatives to traditional plastics, saying that countries should both encourage them and monitor their environmental impact.

Lackner said a science board could clarify the complexities around bioplastics, a catch-all term that includes plastics that are bio-based, made from plants, or are biodegradable, breaking down into natural materials, or in some cases both.

"The debate is highly emotional, because jobs and economic interests are tied to it," Lackner said. "The topic is highly complex. For instance, biodegradable plastics, when mismanaged … can have a worse impact on climate than dumped fossil plastics, to give an example. We need scientists to take emotions out of the discussion and base them on consensus and facts."

Bioplastics groups argue their materials can substantially reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of plastics manufacturing, and if they are also biodegradable, can reduce the end-of-life impact.

Researchers at the University of Texas, for example, have said that the biggest greenhouse impact from virgin plastics manufacturing comes from the oil and gas feedstocks used, accounting for up to 50 percent of the lifecycle GHG impact.

It's hard to know how much bioplastics could replace traditional plastics.

Lackner said over time they could replace up to 90 percent of fossil plastics with similar performance.

An October report from the industry group Plastics Europe, however, was more measured, estimating that bioplastics could account for 17 percent of plastics use in Europe by 2050.

To reach that goal, the group called for economic incentives for the bioplastics industry, along with trustworthy certification system for sustainable feedstocks and legal recognition of standards like mass balance for measuring biocontent.

Lackner said the low cost of fossil fuels has hurt the development of bioplastics.

"The market has not been there because of such cheap oil," he said. "It has always been very low-cost oil that allowed very cost-effective thermoplastics."

Others at the treaty talks pointed to skepticism around bioplastics.

Edith Cecchini, the director of international plastics for Ocean Conservancy, said in a social media post that country delegations in Kenya had "constant" questions about how to evaluate biodegradable plastics.

"While we understand the allure of biodegradability, we do not want the treaty discussions to become sidetracked by focusing too much on this or other 'quick fixes' when the critical need right now is to reduce the production of primary plastic polymers," she said in a subsequent email interview. "We don't want to move from one single-use problem to another."

Cecchini said the treaty should move away from fossil feedstocks and should look to reduce single-use products of any material, but shouldn't see bioplastics as a panacea.

"Weaning off of fossil fuel feedstocks is critical not only to reducing the amount of plastics being produced, but also to the communities that are most significantly impacted by the pollution created by extraction and production," she said. "But we need to be clear: bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics all come with environmental trade-offs of their own, from land use challenges to their continued dependency on fossil-fuel derived chemical additives."

Another group at the talks, the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, released a white paper saying that while bioplastics could have advantages over conventional plastics in "limited" applications like mulch film and for food waste destined for composting, countries should treat them with caution to avoid bioplastics becoming "regrettable substitutions" that hurt human health and the environment.

In an interview at the talks, one of the coalition scientists echoed Cecchini's point that treaty negotiators were unsure how to think about bioplastics.

"We need to establish definitions and criteria for this material, because what we are hearing in these days is a lot of confusion from delegates and others," said Francesca De Falco, a researcher on biodegradable plastic at the University of Plymouth in England.

A key concern, she said, is to make sure that bioplastics don't release toxic chemicals when they degrade in the environment.

The coalition's white paper called for the treaty to set up an independent scientific body to develop safety, sustainability and essentiality criteria for all plastics, and as part of that evaluate the feedstocks for bioplastics and chemicals needed in their manufacture.

Similarly, a September report on plastics treaty options from the Nordic Council, a group of seven Northern European governments, did not include bioplastics as one of 15 policy levers because too little is known about the role the niche materials could play.

It said the public is confused by marketing terms that can "misleadingly" imply green benefits to bioplastics, when those materials could interfere with recycling or need specialized infrastructure to realize the environmental gains.

"Uncertainty remains as to the role of these solutions in the future and caution is required based on the available evidence," the Nordic Council said.

But Lackner said the agreement could play a major role in the growth of bioplastics: "This treaty is fundamental to finally taking the industry from the embryonic state to maturity."

The biomaterials industry needs similar support provided to other parts of the bioeconomy, he said.

"There have been plenty of subsidies for bioenergy and biofuels … but virtually no support for bioplastics," Lackner said. "We need funds for R&D and a level playing field, because the externalized costs of fossil plastics are immense."