In 2010, Americans produced 31 million tons of plastic waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s a staggering figure, especially considering the EPA estimates just 8 percent of that waste was recycled. That means the vast majority of plastic water bottles, TV-dinner trays and other disposable plastics filled landfills around the country.In their lab at the Fitzsimons Life Science District, scientists at PolyNew, Inc. are working to do something about that, developing plastics that are not only biodegradable, but are built using renewable materials.
“There has been societal demands, people want more environmentally sustainable goods,” said PolyNew President Laura Hollingsworth.
The company is developing plastics made from poly lactic acid, a corn based product. Hollingsworth said the company’s plastics could also be made from sugar cane, grasses or essentially any organic material.
While there are some “bio-plastics” on the market made from plant-based products instead of petroleum, Hollingsworth said PolyNew’s products are unique because they are biodegradeable, compostable and made from a renewable substance.
“We are trying to make our stuff from completely renewables,” she said.
Hollingsworth said the company’s goal isn’t to manufacture plastics on a large scale, but to license their technology to companies who produce their own plastic packaging.
Having a renewable material to make plastics is an attractive idea to companies, Hollingsworth said, because many are frustrated with the always-volatile petroleum market.
“They are very interested because they can’t take the volatility in their raw material prices. They are very interested in having a stable base material,” she said.
And, Hollingsworth said, the products seize on a growing desire among consumers to use less petroleum.
“People want more environmentally sustainable goods. I think we all know by now that our petroleum resources are finite,” she said. “If we can make the same types of plastics out of a renewably sourced material, not a one-time-use petroleum, I think most people would agree that would be a great resource, it would stabilize the supply, it would stabilize the cost.”
PolyNew got its start in 1999 at Colorado School of Mines and moved to the Life Science District in 2009. Hollingsworth said the company’s headquarters inside the Bioscience Park Center is ideal because it provides the infrastructure that a start-up needs as they prepare to take their product to market.
“They were really forward thinking out here,” she said. “All the infrastructure is very hard to get. We couldn’t afford this kind of infrastructure.”
Today, the company is refining their technology, trying to make a bio-plastic that can hold up to freezing temperatures and boiling water. They aren’t quite there yet, Hollingsworth said. While some prototype containers can withstand heat and cold better than some petroleum-based competitors, she said in some experiments the plastic has cracked wen exposed to dramatic temperature swings.
“The properties are not quite where they need to be for manufacturing,” she said, tapping the bottom of a prototype plastic dish. “It wouldn’t take too much to crack this, so there are some strength issues that need to be improved.”
The company is also working on a project with the United States Department of Homeland Security to design a lens for firefighters’ masks that will stand up to greater temperatures than current lenses do.
Peter Trask, an engineer at PolyNew, said there have been incidents where the lens on a firefighter’s mask broke because of the extreme heat in a fire, leaving their face exposed.
“The weakest link in the system is the lens,” he said. Because the PolyNew mask is still in the development stage, Trask said he couldn’t disclose what temperatures it could withstand, but he said it’s “significantly higher” than the industry standard.
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@aurorasentinel.com