Representatives of biobased manufacturing companies applaud the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new BioPreferred label, which will inform consumers of products derived from renewable sources.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), a trade group, organized a roundtable yesterday, one day after USDA's announcement, to discuss how the label would offer biobased materials a greater acceptance into the market, subsequently lowering dependence on oil and other fossil fuel-based byproducts and breathing life into a green economy.
"This is going to result in a much bigger market for biobased products throughout the world," said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO. The organization planned the meeting a day after USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the launch of the voluntary label, whose final rule was included in the Federal Register yesterday.
"People ... can shop purposely and try to provide incentives for the private market to increase their environmental efforts to use renewables in their product manufacture," Merrigan said in her address.
At the roundtable, the private market nodded in agreement, and with good reason. A World Economic Forum report released in June stated that using biobased materials could contribute up to $230 billion to the global economy by 2020.
From credit cards to laundry soap
Petroleum products are based on a four-carbon structure, an essential building block of plastics, textiles, chemicals, solvents and fuels. Biobased materials -- which include biofuel -- are able to replicate that same structure from sourcing from plant and grain-derived feedstocks.
"The big challenge is how to explain this in a simple common language to the consumer," said Steve Davies, director of public affairs at NatureWorks LLC, an independent company owned by major food and fuel corporation Cargill. A label signifies an "authoritative content for biobased products."
The certification from a government department also gives the industry a boost, added Davies. "It sends a clear commitment of intent from the U.S. political leadership," he said.
The label will also promote familiarity across the value chain, from suppliers to end consumers, said Joseph DeSalvo, marketing director of DuPont Tate & Lyle BioProducts. The joint venture specializes in biobased intermediate ingredients for polymers, detergents and skin care.
A marketing label
The threshold to be eligible for certification wavers between 25 and 51 percent, depending on the use of the product and its time on the market. This raises questions of integrity in advertisement, and whether a material with fossil fuel sources can still be considered biobased.
"There's a lot discussed about marketing claims," said Ben Locke, director of government programs with Metabolix. "If you make a claim, you need to substantiate." Metabolix manufactures Mirel, a sugar-based plastics alternative.
"One thing that's important is using science for the certification," said DeSalvo. "If there are concerns, it's very easy to test the product." The testing for biomass will be done with an ASTM D6866 radioisotope machine, a process estimated to cost "several hundred dollars," according to Davies.
The BioPreferred program, initiated in 2002 as part of the farm bill and reauthorized in 2008, includes designations for about 5,100 products.