PLA from food-waste March 24, 2013 07:35AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 615 |
Quote
Prof Shirai from the Kyushu Institute of Technology studied the option to convert garbage into plastics and applied a bacterial treatment that generated a PLA (poly-lactic acid) comparable to those made from fresh corn starch. A consortium of private enterprises committed to zero emissions built the factory and presented a new business model: Instead of having to pay for raw materials and compete with food and fuel, the restaurants in Japan pay in order to have their waste collected by the plastic makers.