The packaging industry generates a significant portion of the world’s waste annually. Every year, tonnes of packaging items are headed to landfills, with the figure rising yearly. It is, therefore, no surprise that there is an increasing call for sustainable practices in the industry. Another industry that is facing continuous calls for sustainability is the tech field.
The tech industry is driving change in many sectors and helping to achieve sustainability growth across board. The irony is that it still struggles to control the impact of its activities on the environment. One of the areas in which the tech industry urgently needs to lower its carbon footprint is packaging.
Thousands of packaging items are used to protect and market tech products every year. Most of these are plastics, which are often used once and disposed of immediately. Rising environmental concerns have forced the need for eco-friendly alternatives, such as bioplastic. Let’s delve deeper into how bioplastic packaging can help the tech industry reduce its carbon footprint.
The Impact of Bioplastic Packaging on the Tech Industry’s Carbon Footprint
Everyone is a stakeholder in the quest for a sustainable world. For those in the tech industry, bioplastic packaging has appeared as a potentially disruptive option in its pursuit of sustainability. Some ways it can impact the sector include:
Reducing Environmental Impact
The environmental impact of traditional plastic packaging, which is often used in the tech industry, is enormous. Most items end up in landfills, as minimal efforts are made to recycle them. These materials are often non-biodegradable, meaning they can spend centuries still existing in useless forms. Bioplastic packaging, on the other hand, is a more eco-friendly option, as it is mostly biodegradable and compostable.
Supporting Waste Reduction
Another role bioplastic packaging plays in reducing the tech industry’s carbon footprint is to decrease waste. Tech products often come with excessive packaging, many of which are non-recyclable. Bioplastic addresses the issue of waste with its ease of recycling and biodegradability. By recycling and reusing packaging materials, the industry will take giant steps towards reducing its carbon footprint.
Alignment with Commitment to Carbon Neutrality
Key stakeholders in the tech industry are taking ambitious approaches to sustainability and committing to carbon neutrality in their operations. Bioplastic materials, like algae, help with this, as they are often great for sustainable tech packaging. Bioplastic materials absorb carbon dioxide to reduce the amount of the element present in the environment.
What You Should Know About How Bioplastic Packaging Works
The adoption of bioplastic packaging is yet to be widespread. We will discuss the reasons for this in another section, as this one aims to shed light on crucial aspects of bioplastic packaging that you may not know. The areas that fascinate most people are production methods and the lifecycle advantages of bioplastic packaging.
Production Methods
Production methods for bioplastic often take either of these methods:
- Fermentation-Based Processes: Food-based extracts like sugarcane, corn, and other plant starch are mainly used as bioplastic raw materials. They undergo fermentation to produce polylactic acid (PLA) used for biobased plastic.
- Bacterial Cultivation: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are another chemical used to make bioplastic. Microorganisms convert feedstock into polymers to create this chemical.
- Algae-Based Material: Algae is a more sustainable alternative to using feedstock as it does not threaten global hunger. The cutting-edge research used in production also absorbs carbon dioxide, leading to carbon negativity.
Lifecycle Advantages
Its lifecycle advantages are another reason the tech industry is embracing bioplastic as a sustainable alternative to reduce its carbon footprint. Some ways it helps are:
- Lesser Carbon Footprint: Bioplastic has significantly lower carbon emissions during production, compared to traditional plastics, saving up to two-thirds of the emission caused by the latter.
- Biodegradability and Compostability: Most bioplastics break down naturally in the environment and under industrial composting conditions. This quality is crucial for reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.
- Resource Efficiency: Biobased packaging helps create a circular economy in tech by reducing waste and facilitating resource efficiency.
Challenges of Large-Scale Adoption
Commercializing low-carbon packaging solutions like bioplastics is the goal for most in the tech industry. However, it faces some barriers to attaining large-scale production. Some notable ones are:
- Cost Constraints: The production process is significantly more expensive than that of traditional plastics, barring those without ample financial resources from adoption.
- Infrastructural Barriers: Currently, adequate facilities for bioplastic industrial composting and recycling are lacking. This deficit hinders the attainment of the full advantages of bioplastics in packaging.
- Raw Material Insufficiency: Materials used for biodegradable tech packaging are mostly feedstock like corn and sugarcane. The significant demand for these items and water poses a threat to the global food supply, creating unhealthy competition for these resources.
- Performance Trade-off: There is a valid concern that bioplastics may not match the durability and protection of traditional materials, which may cause worry when packaging fragile tech products.
Finally: The Role of Bioplastic Packaging in Reducing the Tech Industry’s Carbon Footprint
Bioplastics hold great promise for reducing the tech industry’s carbon footprint. However, its adoption is still in the early stages and needs more refinement in areas like raw materials sourcing and ensuring the quality matches conventional materials. Some industry leaders, such as Apple, Samsung, and Dell, are already using bioplastics, but a wide-scale adoption still seems far off.