Plastic pollution is a scourge that has been found in nearly every ecosystem. Because plastic is nevertheless an essential material in modern life, from the polypropylene of medical syringes to the polyester of seat belts, the most realistic solution to plastic pollution is bioplastics: ideally, biodegradable end-products based on sustainably harvested biomaterials. Yet many decades of research and business ventures indicate that large-scale production and widespread adoption of bioplastics remain difficult.

What scalability and investment challenges of engineering biology should be the focus of the bioplastic industry? A recent industry article in Engineering Biology by Switzer et al. lays out insightful perspectives on what needs to be done.

Promise and Long-Standing Challenges of Bioplastic

Marlborough Polymers was the first business to produce bioplastics, way back in early 1983, and many other companies have followed since then. For example, Julia Marsh is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Sway, a company that produces compostable bioplastics from seaweed. Why seaweed? Marsh explains: “Oceans 2050 recently published groundbreaking research in Nature Climate Change proving the extraordinary potential of seaweed farming to combat climate change. Led by Chief Scientist Professor Carlos Duarte, this study is the first to quantify carbon burial beneath seaweed farms on a global scale. It confirms that seaweed farms sequester carbon in sediments at rates comparable to ecosystems like mangroves and seagrasses, long celebrated for their climate benefits.”

Marsh highlights some advantages of their raw materials and business model: “Sway sources responsibly farmed seaweed from around the world, prioritizing partnerships with regenerative seaweed farmers who are revitalizing coastal communities and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Unlike industrial agriculture, seaweed farming requires no fresh water, no fertilizer, and no feed. Better yet, it can improve water quality, boost biodiversity, and protect coastlines and livelihoods. For example, take Maine's Atlantic Sea Farms: their network of small-holder multigenerational fishing families is proving that regenerative kelp farming not only has viable market pathways – it diversifies maritime incomes and rebuilds marine ecosystems in the process.”

Nevertheless, despite extensive research and development, most bioplastics have two fundamental problems: compared with petroleum-derived plastics, they’re typically more expensive to produce, and their properties, such as fracture strain, are inferior. Various solutions to these problems are available but are generally not validated to their full potential commercial scale. The best indicator of this fact is the minuscule market size—2.5%—of bioplastic (16 billion USD in 2024) compared with plastic (625 billion USD in 2023). Identifying the bottlenecks of bioplastic commercialization is essential for maximizing the utility of ongoing related public investments in engineering biology.

Marsh has practical perspectives on overcoming initial barriers to getting bioplastics companies off the ground in Sway’s context of seaweed raw materials: “Historically, the seaweed extracts industry has served food and pharmaceutical applications rather than biomaterials. Seaweed extracts, including agar, alginate, and carrageenan, are the natural polymers Sway uses as the hero ingredient in all of our products. The high degree of purity required from these seaweed extracts for food or pharmaceutical uses results in a more expensive product, which can be a barrier to producing cost-competitive plastic alternatives. However, Sway has been thrilled to see widespread interest from global seaweed farmers and processors to not only supply our company with products but also engage in ongoing research and development efforts to improve processing efficiency and generate outputs specific to the packaging industry.”

Positioning Investment Is Key

A main focus of Switzer et al. is to provide specific recommendations for overcoming common bioplastic commercialization challenges. Legislation and tax benefits are an initial step for addressing cost issues but don’t address the fundamental limitations of product performance and biodegradability. Research on monomer production is central to addressing such concerns. Accordingly, Switzer et al. identify three corresponding monomer production bottlenecks: technically and economically feasible production, purification, and scale-up. Lack of access to essential lab equipment and the difficulty of transferring lab-scale findings to industrial output can be the main contributors to these bottlenecks.

Collaboration and coordination are essential to optimally place investment in a way that helps overcome these challenges. What are the top barriers to effective collaboration between academic researchers and subcontractors in scaling up engineering biology? Marsh offers insights: “The biggest hurdle isn't the science, it's the systems. Scaling bio-based innovation requires design systems thinking, accounting for the web of industrial-scale production and distribution that already exists. Rather than asking the industry to rebuild its operations completely, we focus on creating impactful materials that plug right into existing machinery. This helps motivate legacy plastic manufacturers to experiment with novel materials. Still, access to appropriate machinery, securing production time, and establishing rapid feedback loops remain critical challenges, especially when iterating at pilot scale.”

Marsh continues: “Sway's approach to overcoming these barriers centers on radical collaboration: uniting diverse stakeholders across the value chain early in our development process. The future of materials won't emerge from a single lab or factory – it will come from collaboration between academics, manufacturers, innovators, composters, and policymakers who are willing to rethink what's possible, share expertise, and leverage their industry-specific strengths.”

“Our key recommendation is to establish these partnerships before they're critically needed,” Marsh emphasizes. “When manufacturers are aligned with your vision from the start, they're more willing to provide access to equipment, share knowledge, and engage in the iterative process of scaling bio-based materials. This early alignment creates momentum that sustains collaboration through the inevitable challenges of scale-up – the phase Sway is currently navigating!”

Future of Bioplastics

Not long ago, bioplastics had many of the same sustainability problems as conventional plastics and sometimes didn’t even perform particularly well. Modern research and development is turning this situation around. For example, Marsh shares that “Sway was recently co-awarded Department of Energy MACRO funding with fellow seaweed innovator Umaro. This grant will support Sway’s incorporation of Umaro’s sidestream alginate into our product portfolio, lowering price point and increasing accessibility.”