Starch from potato processing is used to create bioplastic.

 

 

A Carberry-based company continues to research new applications for potato-based bioplastic.

Solanyl Biopolymers holds the license to technology that uses potato starch from the food processing industry to create a starch-based bioplastic that can be turned into semi-durable and disposable products.

"If you look around and see how much plastic is around, there's lots of opportunity and lots of ways to use our material," says marketing manager Mavis McCrae.

So far, the company has used its bioplastic to make products such as office supplies and biodegradable greenhouse pots. "Anything that is semi-durable or disposable is a great application for the bioplastic," says McCrae.

The starch is reclaimed from the waste water at potato processing facilities. It is then converted into a resin that can be heated and shaped through traditional injection molding.

Solanyl was recognized earlier this month as the Emerging Agribusiness Life Science Company of the Year by the Life Science Association of Manitoba.

~ Friday, October 22, 2010 ~