It is difficult to envision a world without plastic. Plastic is everywhere, from food packaging containers to vehicle interiors all the way down to microplastics, found in deep-sea trenches and human placentas. The challenge is the abundant use of petroleum, a limited resource with a significant environmental impact, required to make the majority of plastics. Plastic is made from raw materials largely consisting of crude oil and natural gas and also coal. Crude oil is processed in a furnace then transferred to a distillation plant, where heavier crude oil segregates into lighter components known as fractions, as a part of the refining process.

One of these components called naphtha, is the essential constituent needed to produce a significant volume of plastic. Manufacturing plastic products use 8% to 10% of the entire oil production. The US uses around 12 million barrels of oil each year to produce just plastic bags [1]. Southern California-based start-up company Newlight Technologies, started in 2003, has created a brand-new method of producing plastic without petroleum, turning plastic into a carbon negative and fully biodegradable material  [2].

Over 99% of plastic is made from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels which are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in petroleum-based products [3]. Newlight, in order to reduce such environmental effect, conducted research in the process by which some microorganisms living in the sea use the carbon dissolved in seawater to produce a meltable energy storage substance inside their cells, a bio-derived and biodegradable polymer called Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) [4]. Researchers were able to replicate this procedure on land, creating what they named AirCarbon.

AirCarbon turns trapped greenhouse gases into small plastic pellets in liquid form which can be moulded into almost any structure. The greenhouse gases are obtained from power generation plants, waste disposal, livestock farms, and wastewater treatment plants. The gas and air are mixed within a reactor where naturally existing microbes, or biocatalysts, remove carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the gases and modify them into molecules called AirCarbon. About 40% of air and 60% of greenhouse gas make up AirCarbon. Moreover, the resulting plastic, being Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), is not only carbon negative, it is also fully biodegradable. Newlight has received acknowledgment from some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including the World Economic Forum, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [4].

Newlight hopes to substitute more than half of all plastics in use today. Newlight Technologies already sells carbon-neutral eyewear, canvas bags, handbags, custom leather items, and biodegradable straws and cutlery. The company offers the general public access to all the data about their products and carbon footprint. As an illustration, the handcrafted Poppy canvas bag available in California is composed of 51% AirCarbon, 35% synthetic ethylene vinyl acetate and 14% bio-derived materials. It is a low-carbon product whose manufacturing prevented 16.7 kilos of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere [6]. Other companies have adopted AirCarbon plastic bags, such as Dell when packaging computers from the Latitude series. Sprint employs it in the production of phone cases.

The furniture company KI uses AirCarbon plastic parts in the production of two of their chair manufacturing assemblies. For foodservice companies, Newlight has developed a variety of environment sustainable crockery, including drinking straws and cutlery. This product is not only carbon negative, but also biodegradable in homes, ground/soil, and even sea. It can also be used as compost. The iconic burger business Shake Shack is now testing it at all of its U.S. sites[6].

The current obstacle is the exuberant cost of production. The high manufacturing costs of PHBs relative to plastics made from petrochemicals provide a significant obstacle to their widespread manufacture and adoption. Research is focusing on techniques that will lower the cost of PHB production. Those include creating effective bacterial strains and improving the fermentation and recovery processes. It seems the future is in scientific research taking inspiration from nature and surpassing it, to give it back what we humans have depleted it from.
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References

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[1] Bag at a Time, “Plastic Bags & The Petroleum Link | 1 Bag at a Time,” 2022. https://1bagatatime.com/learn/plastic-bags-petroleum/ (accessed Nov. 05, 2022).
[2] Nate Berg, “AirCarbon: Transforming bovine belches into plastic source | Impact Journalism Day 2018,” 2018. http://impactjournalismday.com/story/aircarbon-transforming-bovine-belches-into-plastic-source/ (accessed Oct. 11, 2022).
[3] CIEL, “Fossil Fuels & Plastic - Center for International Environmental Law,” 2022. https://www.ciel.org/issue/fossil-fuels-plastic/ (accessed Nov. 05, 2022).
[4] Sally Ho, “AirCarbon: This Regenerative BioMaterial Replaces Plastic & Captures More Emissions Than It Takes To Make It,” Mar. 15, 2021. https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/aircarbon-this-regenerative-biomaterial-replaces-plastic-captures-more-emissions-than-it-takes-to-make-it/ (accessed Oct. 11, 2022).
[5] Jorge Lopez, “AirCarbon: A sustainable plastic for the future,” Jun. 25, 2021. https://www.bbeb.com/post/102h1dx/aircarbon-a-sustainable-plastic-for-the-future (accessed Oct. 11, 2022).
[6] Premium Beauty News, “‘Carbon negative’ plastic AirCarbon sparks the interest of luxury brands ,” Oct. 15, 2021. https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/carbon-negative-plastic-aircarbon,19189,en (accessed Oct. 11, 2022).