do biopolymers have a strong future for use in commodity packaging for products such as carbonated soft drinksthe biobased packaging conference biopac, which took place midmay in amsterdam, was both informative and disappointing.it was informative because it illustrated many diverse ideas and potential roles of bioplastics in commodity packaging enduse applications. but it was disappointing because it also illustrated the confused perceptions regarding the true &ldquosustainability&rdquo of bioplastics in commodity packaging or whether this is only a shortterm marketing strategy. an example is the manner in which cocacola is currently marketing its plantbottle.in effect, the primary theme of the conference became the larger question of the fundamental wisdom of using bioplastics for commodity packaging at all.in this respect, the conference did not seem to present a persuasive case for the use of bioplastics in commodity packaging.this commentary and the conference itself focuses on the use of biopolymers in commodity packaging rather than in unique or specialty packaging because this is the enduse category in which biopolymers must demonstrate an advantage over an already established total system based on petrobased polymers including recycling and recycled content. our interest is in whether biopolymers &ldquohave legs&rdquo against commodity packaging for, such as, carbonated soft drinks csd andor widemouth commodity packages for foods and not only in special enduse applications such as mulch films, which take advantage of a particular biopolymeric attribute.in other words, can coke rationalize the use of more expensive biopolymers a marketing tool and not just because of a particular functional advantagethe primary functions of a package are to be an effective delivery system while being less expensive it is unusual to make the package more costly in order to secure a competitive advantage. coke is trying. we will see.biopac was a relatively small 90 attendees eurocentric conference only two attendees were from the u.s., which suggests thata commercial prospects for the use of bioplastics in packaging remains in its early stages.b to the degree that there is a potential for bioplastics to take market share of commodity packaging away from the established petroleumbased polymers, we will likely see it in europe before we see it in north america recall that there was a bioplastic section at the last kshow while the recent national plastics exponpe in orlando featured bioplastics only as portions of numerous company displays scattered among the hundreds of exhibits.there are essentially two categories of bioplastics&bull dropin bioplastics in which the bioplastic molecule is identical to the petroleumbased molecule it seeks to replace and&bull new bioplastic materials in which the bioplastic molecule creates a unique new material such as avantium&rsquos pef polyethylene furanoate or natureworks&rsquo ingeo, which is based on pla polylactic acid.in spite of the fact that dropin bioplastics are not disruptive to either the manufacturing or recycling of existing petroleumbased plastics, there are, in fact, no economic or functional drivers to substitute the former for the latter.alternatively, unique new bioplastics such as pef or pla are potentially disruptive of existing petroleumbased commodity packaging systems. therefore, unless one also advocates separate and distinct recycling systems&mdashor use of near infrared nir separation technologies to separate the two types of molecules that is, for example pef from pet&mdashit is not realistic to introduce unique bioplastics into existing petroleumbased plastic packaging systems where they become disruptive contaminants. examples of appropriate enduse applications that take advantage of the unique properties of bioplastics but do not disrupt existing petroleumbased plastic packaging systems would be agricultural mulch films.biopolymeric substitutes for petroleumbased polymers do not always provide the same functional properties, nor are they always cost equivalent. in fact, they are generally more expensive in spite of the fact that the resulting molecule may be identical. nonetheless, the accompanying environmental benefits are encouraging brand owners to accept occasional performance limitations&mdashand extra cost&mdashto gain the marketing benefits these efforts provide.other conditions mitigating against the opportunity for bioplastics in commodity packaging arethe closed loop nature of the current system in which, conceptually, at some point as the growth of commodity packaging plateaus and recycling rates and postconsumer recycled pcr content increase, we could theoretically approach a condition in which virtually no new virgin plastic is required. introduction of bioplastics would disrupt or delay this prospect.from an economics viewpoint, commodity packaging is costprice sensitive. it is probable that petroleumbased plastics will continue to be less costly than their bioplastic equivalents. this is particularly the case at the current price for a barrel of oil, which observers suggest will be maintained into the foreseeable future as new supplies of petroleum are developed.the only remaining rational for the growth of bioplastics in commodity packaging is the still undefined broad concept of &ldquosustainability&rdquo based on the assertion that the use of renewable resources is, by definition, more sustainable than the use of finite precursor resources. it must be kept in mind, however, that economics is also a critical aspect of sustainability, and, in our perception, improving the economics of polymers made from lessexpensive petroleum will override longterm concerns about running out of it.these relatively negative conclusions regarding the use of either dropin or new bioplastics for commodity packaging were clearly not the expressed intention of the organizers of biopac who are essentially advocates for the increased use of bioplastics in commodity packaging. but unless and until the competitive petroleumbased molecule runs out, our conclusion based on the facts and trendlines presented at this conference is that bioplastics have a limited prospect to significantly increase their use in commodity packaging.it will be interesting to see whether the next biopac conference, which is tentatively scheduled for two years from now, will present a more positive prospect for bioplastic commodity packaging. or whether, in fact, there will be sufficient realistic prospects andor interest to actually maintain this schedule.plastics and packaging expert gordon bockner is president of business development associates bda, a packaging consultancy based in bethesda, md. you can reach him at gjbockner@aol.com. filed underbottles jars resins 
