Ukraine is the sixth-largest corn producer in the world. Growing more than 35 million tons of the crop yearly, the country leaves a massive amount of corn starch behind.
A Ukrainian startup called Bioc designed a technology using this resource to tackle the plastic waste plaguing the country.
The company, launched in 2019, produces bioplastic granules made from over 50% corn starch. They say the material is 100% biodegradable.
It can be used to produce bioplastic bags and cutlery. The company’s marketing director Oleksiy Panteleev joined his father’s venture.
Valeriy Panteleev, a former head of plastics at the Zaporizhia Automobile Factory, co-founded Bioc and is now the company’s operations director.
“When I found out that my father and his friend could make plastic from corn starch, I gave up my business and moved to Kyiv (to help them),” Panteleev told the Kyiv Post.
Versatile material
Bioc produces a few tons of bioplastic granules a year, but the company wants to push that number up to 30,000.
“We currently have one small production line (in Kyiv Oblast), but thanks to it we have been able to show our product to the market, and they are satisfied with its quality,” Panteleev said.
According to Panteleev, the material is best used for supermarket bags and cutlery but can also hold water “up to a point.”
“It will be possible to use the material to make cups for hot liquids if we run more tests and adjust the makeup of the composite,” he said.
The venture has received four grants so far, including one from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
According to Panteleev, there is plenty of demand, but the company’s limited facilities can’t yet produce enough bioplastic to sign regular delivery contracts with customers.
That might soon change, as Bioc wants to expand its operations. The company plans to build two plants, one in Kyiv Oblast and one in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
“It’s even possible in the future that we will build production lines in other countries.”
Plastic crisis
Given the amount of plastic bag consumption in Ukraine, the startup might need to heavily ramp up its production.
In 2020, Ukrainians threw out over 10 million tons of household garbage. According to the parliamentary papers, up to 40% of it is plastic, of which only 5% is recycled.
The recycling rate is eight times lower than the European Union average.
The average plastic bag takes 20 years to biodegrade, while a plastic straw takes 200 years and a disposable plastic cup takes 450 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Eighty three percent of the marine litter in the Black Sea is plastic, the Cousteau Society, a marine exploration and conservation group, reported.
Plastic recycling, touted for decades as an eventual solution, is still expensive and inefficient because melting down and mixing different plastic products leads to significant material degradation.
However, a solution may be found in bioplastics made from natural materials such as Bioc’s corn plastic, which decomposes in months rather than decades.
While bioplastics might seem to be a straightforward solution to the global plastic crisis, the reality is more nuanced, according to Sofia Sydorenko, head of recycling campaign group Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine.
“It’s extremely important to differentiate plastics based on natural products, plastics which are biodegradable, and plastics which can be composted,” Sydorenko said.
According to her, bioplastics should not be seen as a solution on their own, and the first step in any waste reduction strategy should be to cut down on single-use materials.
Bioplastics can help tackle plastic pollution, but they should be part of a coherent recycling system that includes sorting centers and garbage collection to replace oil-based plastics.
Otherwise, bioplastic products will end up in landfills just like their oil based counterparts, Sydorenko said.
Only 6% of plastic bags in Ukraine are recycled and the rest pile up in landfills, according to the parliament’s papers.
“Ukraine needs to take this step (of promoting bioplastics) in a measured and intelligent way.
It is not worth taking quick and easy decisions which could pose risks in the long term,” she said.
Choosing markets
The majority of Bioc’s sales are exported abroad, especially to western Europe where the demand for such products has been growing over the past decade.
However, the startup could soon reap benefits from the Ukrainian market on the back of a recent law banning single-use plastic bags in shops, following the EU’s footsteps.
In June, the Verkhovna Rada voted in a new law that forbids non-biodegradable bags for Ukraine’s shops and food vendors.
The law will come into effect in 2022, banning stores from distributing thin and ultra-thin plastic bags.
The bill also prohibits oxo-degradable bags, which are designed to fall apart into tiny particles over time.
Thin plastic bags used to wrap raw meat, fish and other products, will be exempt from the ban until 2023.
