What are Bioplastics?

Bioplastics are biodegradable and, in some cases, compostable plastics derived from renewable raw materials such as starch from corn, potato, tapioca, or other plants and vegetables, combined with biodegradable polymers, to create products that reduce the impact on the environment in absolute carbon footprint terms.

Bioplastics are designed to biodegrade via natural processes. Traditional plastic bags and food containers require great amounts of energy and raw materials (natural gas, oil and coal) to produce and recycle. Only approximately 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled and plastics in our landfills take hundreds or thousands of years to degrade and hurt our environment by leaching toxins. 

The time needed to degrade or compost bioplastics varies and it is important to make distinctions between biodegradable and compostable.

Compostable: Biodegradable material that includes both organic and inorganic material which produces compost in a commercially controlled composting facility. 

Requirements for Compostable Bioplastics:

• Must meet the ASTM D6400 standard: must decompose at a rate of 90% in 90 days and 100% in 180 days.

• Requires an Aerobic (with oxygen) environment to biodegrade.

Mixed with common items such as food scraps, yard trimmings, paper, etc. to make compost for growing food (e.g. soilmass).

Why it makes sense:  diverts food / food scraps, yard trimmings, paper and other compostable materials from the landfill.

Compostable bioplastics can be made from 100% organic material.

• PLA is 100% biomass polymer.

Compostable bioplastics can be made from 100% inorganic material.

• Ecoflex by BASF and PBS by Showa High Polymer are both certified by the BPI according to ASTM D6400 standard as compostable but are 100% petroleum based. (See: Biodegradable Products Institute)
  
  

Limitations:

• ASTM D6400 certified and BPI approved bioplastics specifically require a commercial composting facility to decompose.  They are not designed to compost or biodegrade in a landfill or in a consumer’s compost bin.  There are only about 113 commercial compost facilities in the US. Roughly only 28 accept food scraps and PLA. Backyard composts cannot degrade PLA, generally.
  

• Many compostable plastics do not degrade into organic matter; hence there is no compost at the end of the cycle of composting. At the end of decomposition, only H20 and CO2 are released into the atmosphere and, in some cases, heavy metals residue will remain in the compost, which can enter the food supply.

Biodegradable:  Biodegradable material that includes both organic and inorganic material which decomposes in both anaerobic and aerobic conditions.  All Trellis Earth products are biodegradable.

Requirements for Biodegradable Bioplastics:

• Capable of being broken down aerobically or anaerobically (without oxygen) by the action of living organisms under natural conditions over varying time intervals.

• Biodegradation can include many different types of supporting processing:    

1) thermal degradation, 2) oxidegradation, 3) hydrolization, 4) mineralization.

Why it makes sense: products deposited in a landfill will completely decompose and disappear within a reasonable amount of time, leaving no harmful residues.  Similarly, can be bio-digested more quickly than bioplastics can be composted, insuring that no greenhouses gasses escape during decomposition (Trellis is working to deploy this option, initially in the Pacific Northwest, as well as other co-generation and recycling options.) 

Limitations:

• Different materials in different conditions biodegrade at different rates and therefore the term is used much more broadly than the term compostable.

• Decomposition time:  No time interval standard exists for biodegradation today. Trellis film products (bags, etc.) are designed to biodegrade in ~6-12 months, and deliware and cutlery in 12-36 months, or in less than 1 month in a biodigestor. 
  
• Gasses released, including methane, need to be captured, as they generally are, to not contribute to global warming, which is standard procedure for most landfills and all biodigestors. 

Reducing petroleum resources in packaging reduces our consumption of oil, which is a primary objective of Trellis Earth’s product line – which is the objective of sustainability.  Trellis Earth addresses both sustainability and the desire of consumers and municipalities to have toxin-free, zero waste management programs that are “earth friendly” and thereby helps food service companies lower their carbon footprint. 

Trellis Earth makes a complete line of biodegradable bags, cutlery and deliware.

Trellis Earth engineers its products to:

• Contain as much biomass as possible, and

• Biodegrade 100% in the anaerobic conditions of a landfill or in a biodigestor. 

Trellis Earth addresses both sustainability and the desire of consumers and municipalities to have toxin-free, zero waste management programs that are “earth friendly” – which is the objective of sustainability.

Trellis Earth product benefits:

• High heat tolerance – does not breakdown in transit or in use.
• Non GMO corn used (grown and harvested in China for non-food product manufacturing)
• FDA certified
• Priced to compete with conventional products to ease commercial consumer adoption.

We accomplish these objectives by blending our resins with a mix of biologically produced polymers (e.g. PLA), biomass fillers (plant starches) and biodegradable polymers (shortened molecular length polymers specifically designed to easily succumb to microbiological activity). We also add patented proteins that accelerate anaerobic biodegradation and the polymeric breakdown that precedes biodegradation.

Many critics of biodegradable plastics technology are not familiar with this technology and are only disparaging old technology when they denounce efforts to introduce biodegradability via anaerobic microbiological activity. 

Trellis Earth is working with industry leaders and consultants to promote a method of testing the rates of biodegradation of bioplastics that can be adopted by the food packaging industry and give consumers confidence that, in the modern landfill environment, Trellis products are not a long term contributor to landfill volume. 

What is Biomass?

Biomass refers to living and recently living biological material used as fuel or industrial production -- fibers, chemicals or heat. Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel. It excludes organic material which has been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum. Biomass is part of the carbon cycle. Carbon from the atmosphere is converted into biological matter by photosynthesis.

Upon decay or combustion the carbon is returned into the atmosphere. This happens over a relatively short timescale and plant matter used as a fuel can be constantly replaced by planting for new growth.

Although fossil fuels have their origin in ancient biomass, they are not considered biomass because they contain carbon that has been 'out' of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Their combustion therefore disturbs the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, and this is the primary cause of global warming.

Is your corn genetically modified?

Corn grown in China is less likely to have genetically modified DNA for various reasons. We believe our product does not have any GMO corn in it but we do not guarantee it (because we have no means to test for it). Our feedstock is from non-GMO, non-foodstock corn grown using heirloom strains so we specifically do NOT want GMO contanimation in our seed sources.

How is your product made?

Bioplastics are made through a natural, yet scientific, step-by-step process:

What is unique about Trellis Earth™ products?

Our products are based on PLA technology but have added ingredients which result in greater formability and heat and wear resistance than products made from pure PLA, sugar cane, or potato starch. Our products can be microwaved with no leaching of any toxic material. We specifically engineer our products to biodegrade in the anaerobic and lightless conditions of a landfill (or a biodigestor).

Trellis Earth™ biomass ingredients require much less energy to harvest and process than paper, and introduce no poisons to the environment, such as bleach used to whiten paper (often discharged into streams). Our bags are more environmentally friendly than paper bags which promote deforestation.

What is the maximum temperature your products can withstand?

Our products withstand temperatures up to 248 degrees Fahrenheit.

 Where is your product used?

Currently our product, as sold by others, is very popular in Asia, Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East.  

Can I order custom products?

Custom ordered products require a minimum commitment of 1 million units from the factory.

Custom printing is available for some items, such as our bags, and require a minimum order of 250,000 unit orders.

How does your product compare cost-wise with other biodegradable plastics?

Our products are less expensive than many products on the market because we produce in very large volume for the global commercial food industry and we use off-shore manufacturing sources.

When will you be selling your products in smaller quantities?

We leave selling our products in smaller quantities to our network of resellers.  

How is your product better than paper and plastic?

Although plastics requires less energy to produce than paper, plastic is derived purely from petroleum and is unable to biodegrade. Plastic consumption increases our dependency on oil and foreign oil supplies. Just 14 plastic shopping bags contain enough embodied petroleum energy to drive a car 1 mile.

Paper production uses more resources (trees, water, energy), and takes up valuable space in landfills, and requires significant toxic chemicals in production. Although paper can be biodegradable, typical landfills lack the water, light, and oxygen required for the degradation process. Paper bag consumption contributes to global warming as trees are cut down, reducing our supply of oxygen, and greenhouses gases and toxic chemicals are emitted in the paper production process. Although more paper bags are recycled than plastic, paper requires 91% more energy to recycle per pound.

The Trellis Earth™ biodegradable plastics return safely and completely to the environment through naturally occurring biological and non-toxic generating processes. No sorting or special composting are required -- they do so in landfills at rates that depend on natural processes as the landfills decompose and disintegrate.

Is your product biodegradable?

Yes, Trellis Earth™ products are made from ingredients that when decomposed become inert elements supportive of natural biological processes with non-toxic results. Our products are specifically engineered to biodegrade in the anaerobic conditions of a landfill using state-of-the-art technology.  Many critics of biodegradable plastics technology are not familiar with this technology and are only disparaging old technology when they denounce efforts to introduce biodegradability via anaerobic microbiological activity.  Making high biomass content bio-plastic blends truly biodegradable in the landfill has become an approach pioneered by Trellis Earth using technology owned by patent holders in Europe and China. 

Are your products certified to the ASTM standards for biodegradability?

There are no ASTM standards specifically for biodegradable plastics. For more information see the Trellis Earth Science Section of our webpage.