Public Lecture, Bioeconomy Seminars
Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre
University of Guelph, Canada
March 13, 2012
The development of bioplastics and other biobased materials holds great promise to mitigate many of the problems associated with plastic derived from nonrenewable sources. However, they are not an automatic panacea. As the interest in biomaterials grows, so follows concern regarding sourcing and end-of-life issues surrounding these materials such as food competition and GMOs and compostability vs recyclability. In this presentation, Brenda Platt shares the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative’s efforts to promote market-based tools such as purchasing guidelines and Working Landscape Certificates, an innovative program that allows buyers of biobased products to support sustainable agricultural practices.