Possibility of Making Plastic Bags without Fossil Fuels

CNN reports that the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed a new method in 2009 of producing polylactic acid (PLA) without the use of fossil fuels. The Korean scientists have been able to produce polymers for our everyday plastic bags with the help of bioengineering. PLA is a polymer of interest, especially today because of our concern for the environment in its current state and the limiting nature of non renewable resources. According to Professor Sang Yup Lee, "PLA is considered a good alternative to petroleum-based plastics, as it is both biodegradable and has a low toxicity to humans." Before the new method of producing PLA was discovered, a two-step fermentation and chemical process of polymerization was used. This process was both costly and complex. Lee states, "By developing a strategy which combines metabolic engineering and enzyme engineering, we've developed an efficient bio-based one-step production process for PLA and its copolymers,This means that a developed E. coli strain is now capable of efficiently producing unnatural polymers, through a one-step fermentation process." KAIST hopes to propose new, efficient methods to producing unnatural polymers that are safe for the environment using the direct fermentation of renewable resources by developing this new method to produce PLA. 


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/11/23/eco.korea.plastic/index.html