To understand how industry is experimenting with this transition,
we investigate bioplastics, the fastest growing biobased
product line globally. In recent years, companies have introduced
corn-based cups and packaging, corn-based fibers for use in carpets
and clothes, and bottles made from sugarcane. These products are
marketed as offering potential environmental advantages over
conventional plastics, along with some economic benefits. But like
other biobased innovations, bioplastics have struggled to achieve
market share; according to one estimate, bioplastics constitute less
than 0.5% of world plastics consumption (Shen et al., 2009).
Conventional plastics continue to dominate the market for several
reasons. Petroleum-based production benefits from large economies
of scale and mature technologies. There are also difficulties in
substituting familiar incumbent plastics with new untried plastics,
as well as in scaling small-scale biotechnologies to industrial levels
(SBI Energy, 2010). It is still unclear whether bioplastics can be
profitable for industry despite the sunk costs required to expand
R&D activities and create new infrastructure. In addition, sustainability
issues pertaining to bioplastics remain unresolved, calling
into question the bioplastic value proposition