Biodegradable 'Tree Glue' Plastic Could Soon Solve Container Rubbish Woes

Plastic packaging has become a serious environmental threat, and there are serious initiatives taken by several countries across the globe to ban plastic bags, and food producers are seeking alternative solutions. According to Eurostat, in 2015 alone, 166.3 kg of packaging waste was generated per inhabitant in Europe, varying from 51.2 kg per citizen in Croatia to 222.2 kg in Germany.

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Although some of this waste is recycled, much of it stays in landfills taking decades to biodegrade and harming the environment. In fact, the European Association of Plastics Recycling found that in 2016 only 40.9% of packaging was recycled.

But what if you did not even have to recycle your plastic packaging? What if it was as biodegradable as the food it protects?

As biodegradable as food

This is the dream that researchers at the University of Warwick are trying to achieve and they could be just five years away from doing so. The team, led by professor of Biological Chemistry Tim Bugg, have stumbled on a natural tree glue called lignin. This glue is flexible enough to be molded into containers, strong enough to be sturdy and, best of all, completely biodegradable.

Lignin gets its unique qualities from its consistency evolved to hold cellulose fibers together in order to stiffen plant stems. The tree glue is an unwanted byproduct of the papermaking industry, carefully removed during processing because its properties weaken and discolor paper made of wood pulp.

Now Bugg and his team have developed a method for genetically modifying a lignin-feeding bacteria called Rhodococcus jostii into a specimen that can turn the glue into large amounts of biodegradable plastic. The modified bacteria may prove to be a key in a process once considered almost impossible.

Difficult but now possible