Oil
won’t last forever – for that we are lucky. Petroleum dependence is a risky,
unreliable crutch that drives global insecurity, depletion, and pollution. If
America’s future depended on it, our nation would have a life expectancy of
20, 30, or 40 years.
Fortunately, our success doesn’t come from fossil fuels. It comes from
innovation, and there is plenty of that left. The technologies to free us from
petroleum are at hand. Many are affordable today.
It is time we shifted our dollars away from the technologies of the past, and
toward technologies with a future. By using our buying power, global companies
can drive demand for more secure, sustainable technologies beyond their tipping
point, the threshold where they take hold in the marketplace – where price,
performance, and penetration secure their growth.
But a few misguided advocates of petroleum are seeking to use a new strategy to
perpetuate our oil dependence: convince environmentalists that shifting from
petroleum based resources will hurt one of their favorite causes – recycling.
Let me explain.
Several years ago, we needed a biodegradable plastic film to increase the wet
strength of our paperboard, without sacrificing recyclability. I struck up a
conversation with a guy from Battelle Labs, who was working on a new kind of
plastic: polymerized lactic acid, or PLA. PLA didn’t come from petroleum. It
was made by fermenting sugar into lactic acid.
The idea fascinated me. We put 20 chemical engineers on it, and built a pilot
plant. The product we created was extraordinary. PLA was more than just a better
laminate. It could do almost anything we needed plastic to do. We could spin it
into fibers, weave it into cloth, or cast it into film. It had the same strength
as nylon, but was totally biodegradable. It came from renewable sources –
corn, wheat, or any source of sugar. It broke down into carbon dioxide and
water. And it was beautiful, to the mind, the eyes, and the touch.
As a newcomer to the polymer industry, we couldn’t afford to take PLA into all
these markets, so we sold the technology, and have no stake in it anymore.
Today, companies like Toyota, NatureWorks, Natur, and Biocore have developed PLA
into an affordable option. The largest plant has the capacity to manufacture 300
million pounds of PLA a year. If it succeeds, additional plants could be built
wherever there is a source of high-sugar waste from plant debris – which means
just about anywhere.
Now, PLA is being used for everything from water bottles and drink cups to
clothing, carpets, and bedding. With volume, new varieties could be developed
for carbonated soft drinks, or made from compost or organic agriculture.
PLA can be recycled. But unlike PET or any petroleum-based plastic, it can also
be composted. It breaks down into carbon dioxide and water. It offers a
zero-waste option, especially when used where composting is easy and available.
That’s what worries a handful of advocates of petroleum-based plastics. They
are concerned that because of its superior environmental profile, PLA could
further weaken the poor recycling record of “PET” packages, the polyethylene
terephthalate plastic often used in water bottles and food packages. Lately, a
few industry representatives have begun a campaign of rumor and innuendo,
contacting environmental and recycling advocates, trying to create worry that
PLA will contaminate PET recycling programs. They say that if PLA is mixed with
PET, it will create discolorations that will degrade the material.
But PLA is no threat to PET recycling. It will be a long time before volumes
reach the level where contamination will be a problem. Even if it is, the
problem is no worse than self-imposed contaminants in PET, like a recent Perrier
bottle with a non-recyclable additive. And mechanical sorting technologies are
already available.
Moving beyond petroleum is good for the nation and the world. The technology and
ingenuity is there. All it takes is the commitment.
Responsible members of the PET and plastics industry would never try to use
environmentalists as a shield, simply to block the entry of a more sustainable
alternative. It is time for industry leaders to open the doors to environmental
innovations like PLA, and to focus on finding solutions, not exaggerating the
problems.
Innovation will be good for the plastics industry too, and for companies
currently making PET. Oil supplies are running short. If plastics are still a
part of the future, the only option is to grow them from renewable sources.
Bio-fuels from the Midwest can last longer than oil wells in the Middle East,
especially as we shift toward more sustainable forms of agriculture.
When my company first invented the aluminum can back in 1960, even the aluminum
companies opposed us. They feared scrap aluminum would undermine their
subsidized sources of bauxite ore. Now, they are grateful they made the
transition to a recyclable source of supply. The plastics industry will be too.
Increasing the use of more sustainable packages like PLA will require boldness,
both by environmentalists and business. But the effort will be worthwhile.
Instead of forcing a square PET into a round bin, we can begin to use better
materials, founded on renewable resources, and designed from the start with the
environment, and our future, in mind.
Bill Coors is the retired former Chairman of Adolph Coors Company, in
Golden, Colorado. He is a founding member of The Future 500, and an honorary
chairman of SEED, an initiative to increase corporate procurement of
sustainable, post-petroleum technologies. See www.future500.org.
Source: An ENN Guest Commentary