 Welcome to a new Pressure Plastic video! So in this video we're going to talk about bioplastics. And first I'll explain a bit what they mean and what are the pros and the cons of the material. Then I'll share some research work we did ourselves, where we dig it into the soil for one year to see what happens with the material, whether it biodegrades or not. And then I'll share some work we did for Pressure Plastic, where we were looking into the future of plastic. What kind of material would it be and how can we make this more sustainable? All right, so let's get started. And the first main difference between normal plastic and bioplastic is that bioplastic can be made from more natural materials such as corn. I mean this sounds amazing right, but is it? Let's find out. First let's go to the advantages of this material. So usually plastic is made from crude oil, which is a fossil fuel which you can find deep in the earth and it's a non-renewable resource. So once we've finished it, it's done. Bioplastics are made from renewable resources such as cassava, potatoes or corn. We're able to turn this thing that just keeps on growing also into plastic, which means we don't need fossil fuels. It comes in many different shapes and sizes. I mean you could make a straw, you could make a little bottle, you could make a strong tray and it's often also used for 3D printer filament. So in a way it can replace a lot of materials we already use today. And because it's so similar also the production processes are very similar. So let's say here you have a normal cup and here bioplastic cup. And both look and feel very similar, transparent, lightweight, flexible, but also the way how they're being made is very similar, made with the same kind of machinery and molds. So you don't need to build a completely new infrastructure, but you can just use the existing infrastructure and only replace the material. And finally, probably the biggest advantage of it all, it's very good for marketing. I mean it sounds amazing right that you have plants and they're just turned into beautiful transparent plastic. And once you're done with it, you can just throw it away and it biodegrades into the nature because it is compostable. Compostable. However, that something is made from natural materials doesn't mean it biodegrades. I mean even our normal plastic was at some point oil, which also came from a plant. But because it's so refined and processed, it doesn't biodegrade by itself anymore. But before we dive into all the disadvantages of this material, I wanted to actually just see for myself what happens. After one year when you throw something like this in nature, does it biodegrade, does it dissolve? So yeah, let's just try it out with a few things, to dig them into the soil and see how it comes out. So we're currently on our way to gather some PLA, PLA bioplastics from shops like cups, plates, salad bowls, salad bowls to test them out in real life. Thanks. PLA plastic free. So we have our plastic and now we're going to test it in a few different ways to compost it. One is this. This is easy composting. So our first bag is going onto the rooftop in this box right here. So this one we'll put in the ground and see what the worms are doing with it. And the little animals that live down there. Go eat it. One is going in the water to see what the face do with it. All right, so meanwhile the plastic is decomposing. We'll check again one year later, which would be like in a minute in this video. But let's now talk about the disadvantages of this material. First off, this material is heavily modified because we want to keep the same material properties as we're used to with plastic. We like that it's transparent, that it's lightweight, that things fit together. But yeah, in order to turn this piece of corn to turn it into this, you need to add quite some processing and modifications. So this corn for instance would rot away in two weeks, but this doesn't. Which brings me to the next point. They often mention that this stuff is compostable. I mean they write it on there a lot. Compostable. Compostable. Compostable. But what he actually mean with that is that it can be composted, but it needs to have very specific conditions. So it needs to be for instance for three months on 60 degrees in 40% humidity and then it decomposes. And this can be done in industrial places like here, which you don't find often, but they do exist. It's like an industrial composting. However, realistically if this stuff ends up in the nature, the ocean, the forest, you don't have these conditions so it doesn't decompose. So in a way it can be composted, but realistically it would most likely not end up in a place like this. So most of this trash actually isn't composted. And the reason of that is also that our trash is complex. So let me bring you to point number three, our trash. So like I mentioned before, bioplastics look and feel very similar to normal plastic. They could both be transparent, they could both be a foil, they could both be yellow, they could be black. However, even though they look very similar, they require a completely different waste infrastructure. Ideally plastic gets recycled into a recycling plant and bioplastics, they get composted into a composting plant. However, because they're so similar, it's very hard to see the difference. So even when you finish a product, should they go into the composting bin or to the recycling bin? And let's say they all end up at a waste infrastructure, a waste facility plant that sorts out your waste. Even for them, it's very difficult to see the difference between these two types of plastic. So realistically now, both of them just go to the landfill or burn, because they don't really know what to do with it. And they don't want to pollute the recycling plant, but they also don't want to pollute the compost plant. So by introducing this new material, we're actually messing up a current waste infrastructure and even making it more complex. Not saying we can do it, but we just don't really think about it. We're already pooping a lot of this material into the world, without really thinking about its afterlife. So the waste management behind bioplastics is a very blurry gray area. So it's currently one year later. I am now 31 and we also have a coronavirus in the world. But we're going to dig up the plastic. It's a bit greener, but I think it was there. So let's see how it is one year later. Plastic bag looks peaking. Here we have our plastic-free bag. I'm not sure where this one is. Ah, there it is. Sorry, Netherlands for polluting. They call this polluting in the Netherlands. Really? Yeah, probably. Here's the bag. Cup. Third one there, I think. All right, so we got our stuff. And now we're going to the next one, which is on the roof. Still, even the paper is still there. Pretty didn't do much. This is a bit molten. Ah, the bag is pretty dissolved. So here we have the roof. Still looks pretty good. So just to recap, bioplastics can decompose, but it requires a very managed system and industrial waste facilities to do this. And they are just not there. So realistically, if this thing ends up in the nature, it just stays there for a long time, like normal plastic. So it doesn't really solve the problem. All right, so let me give you some hope. There's actually a third type of plastic, which is a biodegradable plastic. I know, sounds very similar. So normal plastics are made from oil, fossil fuel. Then you have bioplastics, which is made from renewable resources like corn, potato or starch. And then you have biodegradable plastics. So plastic that actually biodegrade and decompose in a natural setting. So you do need any managed waste industrial plants for this. Home compostable. And this is very nice material. However, it is very difficult to make, so only very little materials exist. And the reason is because it's just hard to design the lifespan of a product, because you want to make sure until you use it, it lasts and it's strong and it doesn't fall apart. But at some point when you're done with it, you want to start the decomposing process. So designing that is very difficult. So often these products are still very experimental and exotic. So for instance, you have leather made from kombucha or drinking packages made from jelly seaweed. So nowadays a lot of companies claim to make biodegradable plastics, but they actually don't. They just make bioplastics and they don't decompose in nature. But I would say this exotic category, which is fairly new, does show a lot of hope and potential for the future. So one of the research projects we've been doing is called Beyond Plastic. So really looking into how can we develop materials that actually biodegrade in a normal condition in nature. So we developed this simple press. We turn on the heating, put in our material. Now we press it. Now we wait a bit. Right now we made a bowl. From wheat bran, which is a leftover product from the grain industry. But you could make the exact same bowl with coffee grinds. So yeah, same shape but just a different material. Or orange peels are pretty good to work with as well. So there are many different materials to explore and play with. And they're all super natural. So in the end when I'm done with the salad, I can also just dispose it in the nature. So for instance here you can see some old bowls we made. You can see fungus coming on it. So slowly biodegrading. But you can also see the plastic material and still in the exact same shape. So yeah, we're really aiming for products that just biodegrade in nature. But I would say overall there's way more to explore, way more to test. It's still in early stages this whole project. But we share everything what we made open source online for free. So Jan has made a super nice video on how to build the machine. But also how to make a bowl step by step. There are many more recipes, materials online. So I'd say if you're interested in a topic, go to the academy. Have a look, explore. And thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next pressure plastic video. And we really enjoy making these videos to dive into these topics, see the problem and see what we can do about it to change it. But they do take a lot of effort, resources and energy to make. And should be told, we're also just getting a bit older. I mean, we only have so many hours in a day. So we need a few more resources and people to help out diving into these topics. So if you want to help us out, make sure to visit support.preciousplastic.com to see how you can help out. And friends is by supporting us on Patreon, that helps a lot. Anyway, thanks for watching and see you in the next pressure plastic video.