A growing number of chemists are now developing biodegradable plastics in replace of those that are made by oil. Right now, bio plastics are being made from corn and other plants, more recently than others, additions of cotton.

Besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions during production, biodegradable plastics leave no waste, and can “maximize economic development by using local crops”, according to Susan Moran of the New York Times.

In the past few years, plastic forks and other disposable utensils have been made out of bio plastic, but companies are beginning to use bio plastic in non disposable products like cell phones, including the Japanese companies NEC Corporation, Unitika. and NTT DoCoMo.

As of right now, the largest producer of bio plastic is NatureWorks, based in Nebraska. It uses corn sugar to make “polylactide”. Polylactide comes in the a white pellet form, which NatureWorks sends to other companies, who then mold the bio plastic into products or packaging.

Metabolix, based in Massachusetts, is another company that produces a bio plastic. Metabolix specializes in films, specifically used in creating garbage and shopping bags. According to Metabolix, their bio plastic composts in fewer than 90 days, in a wide variety of temperatures and places, including a consumer’s back yard, or “even the ocean itself”. By creating a bio plastic that is compostable under a larger variety of circumstances, littered bio plastic, specifically the type that Metabolix produces, has a higher chance of composting even when un-intended by a consumer.

Metabolix, like NatureWorks, produces bio plastic, and then sells it in a standard form which is then molded by the purchasing company. According to the Metabolix website, their product is “Biobased, Sustainable, and Biodegradable”, meaning the “mirel”, a specific form of bio plastic is formed from all natural materials, leaves no carbon footprint, and decomposes within a relatively short amount of time.

While bio plastics are still relatively new, chemists are coming up with more efficient forms. One of the main problems with bio plastics is that when used to package food products, the food product’s shelf life becomes much shorter. Chemists are trying to find a balance between bio plastics that decompose under a large variety of situations (intended or unintended) and last long enough to keep food fresh when packaged, one of the leading uses of regular plastics.

Though not perfect, new forms of bio plastic are emerging from a large amount of chemists, hopefully meaning that we will soon have a more perfected form of bio plastic, eliminating waste and carbon emissions.