LAB NEWS

Researchers from the University of Georgia New Materials Institute were recently selected to lead or co-lead seven projects for the Industry Advisory Board for the Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites, or CB2, during the group’s fall meeting held in North Dakota. The projects will be conducted in 2024.

Improving the circular systems related to collection, recovery and management of organic waste will help local communities lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the accumulation of food-contaminated packaging in their landfills. There is a growing need for new strategies to strengthen management in this waste category, as more localities ban food waste from landfills and/or extend producer responsibility for waste management to manufacturers, particularly for packaging.

Researchers at the University of Georgia’s New Materials Institute will help their hometown and five other U.S. communities improve organic-waste management practices through a 2-year project funded by a $1.2 million grant from the Walmart Foundation. The research will yield organic-waste management strategies that communities can adopt and scale, based on their population and resources. Organic waste includes food scraps and food-soiled packaging, as well as yard waste.

The University of Georgia New Materials Institute will pursue six sustainably-related research projects in 2022 that were recently selected for funding by the Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites’ Industry Advisory Board.

The project selections were finalized at the annual Fall Meeting of the IAB. The meeting was held virtually and attended by representatives from all four university research sites for CB2: UGA, Washington State University, Iowa State University, and North Dakota State University. CB2 is an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation. The research cooperative was recently granted a Phase II award.

The Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (CB2), co-located at North Dakota State University (NDSU; lead site), Iowa State University (ISU), Washington State University (WSU), and the University of Georgia (UGA), has been awarded Phase II of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers Program (I/UCRC) grant. This new funding, along with contributions from industry partners, will total $1,950,000 and will be shared among the four collaborating universities that comprise CB2.

CB2 develops fundamental knowledge related to bioplastics and biocomposites, and disseminates research-based findings that promote sustainability to industry partners. At the same time, the center helps undergraduate and graduate students learn the skills needed to become tomorrow’s bioplastics scientists. More than 30 industry partners, including Ford, Amazon, 3M, John Deere, Sherwin-Williams, Kimberly-Clark, AkzoNobel, ADM, Hyundai, and BASF, define and mentor research projects at the four CB2 sites.

Manufacturers that utilize polylactic acid (PLA) in products and packaging are well aware of the polymer’s drawbacks, including brittleness and slow degradation at end-of-life. Researchers the University of Georgia’s New Materials Institute have found a way to overcome these negatives of working with PLA, by blending the material with cost-effective poly(butylene glutarate) (PBG). The results of their new study offer manufacturers an alternative to utilizing petroleum-based additives that also improves upon the mechanical properties of PLA, and the PBG-PLA blends degrade at a faster rate in an industrial composting setting.

An interview with Jason Locklin, on the environmental problems associated with plastics and potential solutions for the near future, is featured in an episode of a three-part NOVA docuseries that premieres Wednesday, February 3. Locklin is director of the UGA New Materials Institute, which researches and develops compostable technologies to replace the environmentally persistent, petroleum-based plastics currently used in packaging for consumer goods and food items.

NOVA “BEYOND THE ELEMENTS,” hosted by David Pogue, examines our everyday world through the lens of chemistry.