A consortium hoping to make plastics from Maine potatoes has received more than $650,000 to further develop the proposal.

The group, which is known as the Sustainable Bioplastics Consortium, plans to spend the next 18 months demonstrating the feasibility and marketability of using Maine spuds to produce an environmentally friendly type of plastic. The consortium is being led by InterfaceFABRIC of Guilford.

Researchers at the University of Maine in Orono will work on the technical aspects of creating a type of plastic resin – called polylactic acid, or PLA – from potato starch. The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at UMaine will continue studying the market opportunities for potato-derived plastics.

The Maine Potato Board and other consortium members, meanwhile, will work with potato growers and processors to identify appropriate locations for the factory or factories. Consortium members have said in the past that any facility would likely be located in Aroostook County.

The Maine Technology Institute awarded $200,000 to the project. The remaining $459,000 comes from several Maine businesses and the Environmental Health Strategy Center, supported by a grant from Kendeda Fund, a private foundation committed to sustainable economic development.

“Maine will become a leader in environmentally friendly production of plastic through this collaboration,” Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said in a statement announcing the grants on Monday.

“The result will be creation of good new jobs in clean and green manufacturing, a new market for Maine’s growers to tap into, and sustainable products for consumers in Maine and beyond.”

Supporters say the process of making plastics from potatoes isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.

While the vast majority of plastic in the world today is petroleum-based – a fact that raises a host of economic, environmental and health issues – a few factories have begun making PLA out of corn starch.

The seeds of the potatoes-to-plastics movement began in 2004 when InterfaceFABRIC began using PLA made from corn starch in its fabric products. Interested in further reducing the environmental effect of its manufacturing and transportation systems, the company began examining the possibility of substituting the Midwestern corn starch with starch from Maine potatoes.

Several other companies, including Tom’s of Maine and foam manufacturer Rynel Inc. of Wiscasset, expressed interest in InterfaceFABRIC’s investigations into potato-based PLA.

PLA can be used for a variety of products, including bottles, packaging and fabrics and backers say the bioplastics industry could be worth tens of billions of dollars within a few years.

Some manufacturers that use plastics have cautioned, however, that PLA use may be limited because the types available now are not as durable or moisture-resistant as more common types of plastics. And although PLA can be recycled and composted, there are few facilities that currently accept it.

Consortium members have said they believe a PLA manufacturing plant could use waste potatoes or waste starch or new acreage of potatoes planted specifically for plastics manufacturing. That would potentially expand potato harvests in Maine and avoid competition for potatoes with existing users.

The Sustainable Bioplastics Consortium members are InterfaceFABRIC, the Environmental Health Strategy Center, Rynel Inc, Tom’s of Maine, the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, UMaine’s Process Development Center, the Maine Potato Board, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and Green Harvest Technology LLC.

kmiller@bangordailynews.net

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