Not this year but maybe next, that plastic wrap in your kitchen drawer could be made of sustainable bioplastic from algae instead of petroleum. Bioplastics manufacturer Cereplast, Inc. has just announced that it should be ready to take its new Cereplast Algae Plastics to market by the end of 2010.
Cereplast’s move into algae could make a huge difference in the bioplastics industry, which until now has drawn its feedstock mainly from conventional food crops like corn and potatoes. Among other benefits, the use of algae opens up the possibility of siting carbon-consuming algae “farms” where they can neutralize greenhouse gas emissions from factories or power plants.