Sandeep Kulkarni
KoolEarth Solutions Inc., USA
Title: The best of times – How sustainability commitments by global corporations are fueling development and commercialization of bioplastics
Biography
Biography: Sandeep Kulkarni
Abstract
In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges and issues (such as plastic pollution/litter and climate change) global governments, non-governmental orgainization and corporations are coming together to formulate apporoaches for tackling these challenges. Large Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies such as PepsiCo, Unilever, Starbucks and McDonald’s have announced bold and aggressive goals related to the end-of-life for their packaging materials. These include commitments to make their packaging fully recylable, compostable/biodegradable and to reduce the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) impacts from their packaging. Biodegradable bioplastics (such as PLA and PHAs) can provide a viable solution for hard-to-recycle packaging (such as multilayer pouches/satches) and also in potentially addressing litter issues on land or in the ocean. Also, non-biodegradable bioplastics (such as bio-PET and PEF) can help reduce GHG impacts of packaging while being fully recyclable. For the above reasons, there have been significant investments in bioplastics research and development, both in small as well as large companies globally. This presentation will highlight some of these efforts and provide an insight into the future commercial applications of bioplastics. Examples of potential future commercial applications include PHA based compostable/biodegradable snack packaging (being developed by PepsiCo), as well as recyclable and biodegradable single-use cups (being developed by Starbucks/McDonald’s).