Bioplastics

California produces 2.4 billion pounds of cheese each year and the leftovers from making your favorite feta, gouda and cheddar could be the source of compostable biodegradable plastics like packaging, spoons and cup liners. 

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, are working with the dairy industry to turn these so-called co-products or byproducts into bioplastics, and scaling up the technology could help the state meet a goal for all single-use packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032. 

What if the methane from landfills and wastewater treatment plants could become an affordable raw material for sustainable plastics? 

Some naturally occurring bacteria, called methanotrophs, can consume methane and use its carbon to produce biodegradable plastics, which are stored inside their cells. But producing plastic is only part of the puzzle. Recovering and purifying it from the bacteria contributes significantly to costs; thus, reducing these costs can help make methane-derived bioplastics economically competitive with conventional plastics.