Kaneka's biodegradable plastic "GreenPla" (1990s)

Kaneka's biodegradable plastic "GreenPla" (1990s)
In the 1990s, Japan began to recognize the limits of its plastic-dependent society as the marine litter problem and the tightness of final disposal sites became more serious. Dioxin from incineration, litter washed ashore, and plastic bags littering the beaches were all drawing attention, and the Ministry of the Environment and local governments began to steer the country in the direction of plastic reduction. Against this backdrop, research and development of biodegradable plastics accelerated in Japan and abroad, and expectations for new materials that decompose in the natural environment grew.
GreenPla" (PHBH), developed by Kaneka, is a biopolymer produced using the metabolic products of microorganisms, and is characterized by its ability to decompose not only in soil but also in seawater. While most biodegradable plastics decompose only under special conditions such as industrial composting, GreenPla can decompose in an environment close to that of the natural world, and has attracted attention as a material that directly responds to the problem of marine plastics.
Furthermore, it was evaluated as a material that companies can easily adopt because of its processing suitability for a wide range of applications, including films, food packaging, agricultural materials, and straws, as well as its performance similar to that of conventional plastics. It also contributes to carbon neutrality because it uses plant-derived carbon, and was positioned as a pioneer in the development of sustainable materials.
GreenPla is not just an environmentally friendly material, but a symbolic technology that rethinks the entire lifecycle of plastics and aims for a naturally recycling society, and continues to influence current bioplastic research.