Timeplast Vs Danimer Scientific (Part 3)

And here we are with the last part, thank you for sticking through the whole series!

Here's part 3:

3. Vision / Approach to sustainability: Here’s where Timeplast distances itself the most from Danimer Scientific.

Let’s talk about Danimer’s main selling point; biodegradability and compostability. 

Biodegradability has been labeled as a scam for a very long time, including renowned scientists and experts on the topic, like Jason Locklin, the director of the New Materials Institute at the University of Georgia who said that; "Choosing products with packaging that claims to be biodegradable or compostable might mean that they degrade only under special conditions" and Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist at the UN Environment Programme, told the Guardian that; “It’s well-intentioned but wrong. A lot of plastics labelled biodegradable, like shopping bags, will only break down in temperatures of 50C (122F) and that is not the ocean" she said.

I’m shocked seeing that even today biodegradability/compostability is still being used as a benchmark for sustainability, as a tool to sale, and as the supposed ideal for material end-of-life, even when a few facts can dismantle this entire misconception. 

However, for the sake of continuing with the rationale behind how wrong the biodegradation approach to sustainability is, let’s assume that in fact we had an actual biodegradable plastic material, that will 100% of the time biodegrade in all conditions. Even in that case, we absolutely don’t want to send all carbon in plastics right into our atmosphere given that it already contains too much CO2, generating a colossal global negative impact.

Biodegradation should not be praised as the sustainable gold standard, given that it encompasses an extinction-level environmental impact. 

Nature developed water as the main chemical route to deal with waste through its universal solvent capabilities. Water is the key to all elements of life, and we should follow that chemical pathway. 

Timeplast’s vision is that all waste materials should be water-soluble, which is why we've patented the first co-polymer plastic material with programmable water solubility, so that we adapt our society to our planet’s Grand Chemistry, that’s why we believe that instead of biodegradation, the actual sustainable gold standard is water-solubility. 

-End of the answer-

Thank you David for the question, and thank you all for your continued support.