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Plastics: Not Forever Anymore

Breakthrough:
Solegear has developed a corn-based sustainable bioplastic that will biodegrade in four years.

Business:
Solegear Bioplastics Inc., Canada

The Story:
Plastics are forever, and they're everywhere. Their durability – a quality that makes them so useful – also makes them so destructive to the environment.

Solegear, a Canadian company based in Vancouver, aims to alter the way plastics are made by developing natural bioplastics that can be used to produce non-toxic, sustainable, biodegradable plastic products.

Their newest bioplastic, called Polysole®, has recently won the Frost & Sullivan award for New Product Innovation 2010.

The product is made from corn, but can also be derived from other legumes. They claim it will break down in four years if exposed to the heat, moisture and bio-organisms found in a composting environment, but otherwise will remain intact.

Imagine if the millions of lip balm cases, syringes and plastic toys now filling our landfills could decompose over the next four years!

Opening in 2006, it took four years of concentrated work to develop the completely biobased polymer. They needed to overcome the challenge of using synthetic additives that are typically needed to produce high performance products.

Solegear was able to create a plastic that not only delivers high impact strength, tensile strength and processing efficiency for use in automotive, electronic and medical applications, but also does it in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way.

To make their product even more appealing, it can be customized for use in existing processing lines without the need for retooling or shutting down systems.

According to their website:

POLYSOLE® is a revolutionary biodegradable plastic material that can be used in film, sheet, blow molding and injection molding applications. Made using entirely natural materials and organic additives, POLYSOLE® is a 100% biodegradable and non-toxic thermoplastic. Its superior processability and strength offer opportunities for manufacturers of all kinds to save money, increase product safety and beat their competition.

We congratulate forward thinking companies like Solegear that are working not only to create a profitable business, but to ward off the inevitable destruction that continued use of non-biodegradable plastics will surely bring to our planet.

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