The proliferation and limited recycling of traditional plastics has led to accumulation in the environment and landfills where the materials persist. Replacing traditional plastics with fully biodegradable plastics would alleviate this problem.

Some bacteria are capable of producing biodegradable plastic polymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates, but commercially this is too expensive mostly because of the cost of the feedstock or carbon source. However, there are abundant waste streams from animal and plant agriculture that could be used as inexpensive feedstocks.

A collaboration between Deepak Kumar’s lab at SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry and Erica Majumder’s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison demonstrated a conversion of acid whey waste from soft cheese production into high yields bioplastic polymer using an engineered bacteria. This is one example of many where researchers are working towards a sustainable circular economy for biobased and biodegradable plastics.

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