You already know the world has a plastics problem—and COVID-19 has made it worse. But biotech, as you might have guessed, has a solution. In the latest episode of the I AM BIO Podcast, host Jim Greenwood chats with two guests with some ideas about how we can solve our plastics problem—and possibly thwart another pandemic.
In recent months, plastic has helped to save lives and keep the economy moving, in the form of PPE for health care and essential workers as well as things like takeout food containers.
But the plastics and petrochemicals industries are using the pandemic “as an excuse to try to wipe away years of progress” on ending plastic pollution, as fear and misinformation about how the virus is transmitted has led unnecessarily to the use of more plastic, explained Jeff Tittel, Senior Chapter Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
But pandemic or not, the manufacturing of plastics warms the planet and pollutes oceans and land—causing us to expand our human footprint and creating the very conditions that led to the spread of COVID-19 and other deadly zoonotic diseases.
What’s the solution? Meet BIO member Danimer Scientific, a Georgia biotech that’s the first to market a green biopolymer material that looks and feels like plastic—but dissolves in ocean water.
Danimer’s polymer Nodax PHA is “biosynthesized by a bacterium fed by inexpensive oils derived from the seeds of plants such as canola, soy, and palm,” according to the company.
And it “doesn’t have to be collected,” explained Danimer’s Chief Marketing Officer Scott Tuten, because it’s biodegradable in soil, freshwater and seawater, and even home compost bins.
It’s ready for a lot of practical solutions—like biodegradable water bottles, straws, produce bags, even snack bags developed in partnership with PepsiCo.
Is there a silver lining to the pandemic? No, of course not—but as Jim Greenwood said, it’s forced us to “take a look at how we’re living” and how our activity has an impact on the health of nature, the planet, and each other. (Or, One Health!)
And as bad as this pandemic is, “it pales in comparison to where we’re headed with climate change,” he added.
Listen to the whole thing at www.bio.org/podcast or anywhere you get your podcasts, including Apple, Google, and Spotify.
Learn more about bioplastics.
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