The ImpEE Project: Improving Engineering Education

Slide

It is possible to produce polymers biologically e.g.:
PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) grown in genetically modified corn plant leaves.
PLA (polylactide) produced by the fermentation of sugars extracted from plants.
PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) produced by bacteria.
However the energy costs for producing them are high. To degrade properly materials like PHB also need to be treated as compost rather than being dumped in landfills where there will not be suitable bacterial conditions to encourage rapid decay. There are worries that if PHB were to become more commonly used people would litter all the time, thinking that this was all right as the plastic would just degrade.1

The ImpEE Project