Biodegradable Plastic and the Suppliers that can provide them to Local Businesses

UCSC GEOPATHS is an NSF-supported initiative to improve student success in the geosciences, driven by a desire to broaden participation. One component of the program is undergraduate student internships that provide authentic, career-relevant experiences - across all employment sectors - to increase student engagement in the geoscience pipeline.

My GEOPATHS Internship at the Sustainable Systems Research Foundation (SSRF) in Santa Cruz focused on working on the Sustainable Procurement Integration program where I helped in researching toxic vs. nontoxic bioplastics materials, and whether they are truly biodegradable so that they can be used in local Santa Cruz businesses and restaurants. One of SSRF's main goals is to have all the local restaurants and businesses in the city using bioplastics that are truly biodegradable and change many of the procurement practices currently being used. To achieve this goal, SSRF focuses on researching four major areas; the business policies used in local businesses, suppliers of biodegradable materials, and organizations that receive waste. My role in this program is focusing on the supplier aspect where I am looking into some of the details of the materials being used in various catering products such as PLA and PHA and categorizing whether they are toxic or non-toxic. PLA is currently being used in bioplastics and are categorized as compostable, but this material has been found to be toxic. PHA is a biobased biodegradable material which is currently a better alternative if we want to truly replace all plastics to ones that are compostable and biodegradable. I am also researching suppliers that can provide biodegradable products that can be used for dining and takeout products. The internship exposed me to the many plastics being used and how much the labeling of products as "biodegradable" and "compostable" is very misleading. I will share the results of my project and experiences in the program.