PHA may provide a solution to the problem of plastic pollution.

Knowledge about PHA (a biodegradable plastic)

Suwon, South Korea-CJ Cheiljedang, a South Korean conglomerate, is entering the global market and has begun mass production of PHA biodegradable plastics or polyhydroxyalkanoates.

PHA is considered a viable alternative to petroleum-based plastics because this new technology allows its plastic waste to be completely decomposed in the ocean and soil in a shorter period of time.

"It is said that plastics made from crude oil take more than 500 years to completely decompose, while biodegradable plastics take decades at most," Sung Yeon Hwang, head of the Bio-based Chemistry Research Center of the Korea Institute of Chemical Technology, told ABC News. "Biodegradable plastic will not pollute the ocean even if it accidentally flows into the shore."

This next-generation plastic PHA made by microbial fermentation is currently manufactured by American company Danimer and Japanese company Kaneka based in Bainbridge, Georgia.

CJ CheilJedang plans to build a 5,000-ton PHA production line in Indonesia by the end of this year. According to the market analysis of European bioplastics companies in 2020, the global bioplastics production market is expected to reach 2.8 million tons by 2025.

Europe's ban on the sale of the 10 most common types of plastic waste at the bottom of the ocean, such as straws, takeaway containers, and polystyrene water bottles, has exacerbated the inevitable shift from petroleum-based plastics to environmentally friendly alternatives.

"Through PHA, CJ CheilJedang hopes to play a leading role in changing the paradigm of the global materials market," CJ CheilJedang's communications team told ABC News. "'Going green' is an inevitable trend in all walks of life."

CJ Cheiljedang's PHA has passed the biodegradability certification of industrial use, household compost, soil and water by the biodegradability testing and certification agency TUV Austria.

From microorganisms to environmentally friendly plastics

The manufacture of solid PHA materials begins with engineering and the creation of microorganisms. At the CJ Cheiljedang laboratory in Suwon, southern Seoul, researchers cultivate and cultivate microorganisms, and use automated machines to select the strongest strains.

Researcher Park Yae-seul told ABC News: "These selected strains grow best in a controlled environment where we strictly control the shaking speed and temperature."

The selected strains undergo a fermentation process, during which cells grow in a bioreactor, and then sugars made from raw materials are added to better produce PHA.

After a period of fermentation, these materials undergo a refining process, in which PHA is dehydrated and aggregated, and then made into long liquid plastics, which are then dried into solid biodegradable plastic materials.

Although many biodegradable materials have been proposed as a solution to the global plastic pollution problem, there is still a lot of controversy about how to dispose of biodegradable plastic waste.

In-Joo Chin, chairman of the Korea Bioplastics Association, told ABC News: "Ideally, it is best to collect used PHA-based plastic waste and treat it in industrial compost to meet its biodegradable characteristics."

In theory, bioplastics like PHA can be composted if they are collected and buried separately, but for now, consumers are advised to throw them away with general garbage.

Experts say that the amount of commercial waste at this time is not enough to design a separate collection system. Only when its manufacturing reaches sufficient scale economies in the future, PHA will become an effective and environmentally friendly alternative to plastics.

As the beginning of its next-generation transformation, CJ CheilJedang recently started wrapping their tofu bags in vinyl packaging containing their own PHA for testing purposes in consumer products. But there is still a long way to go to achieve economies of scale.

"It is more costly to replace the original vinyl packaging made of petroleum-based plastic PP with biodegradable alternatives, but we believe that the biodegradable plastic market has economies of scale," technology strategy expert Young Min Lee told ABC News. "As more and more plastics are replaced by biodegradable plastics, production costs will naturally drop."

Hong Xiulie said: "If plastic waste can only turn into general waste such as straw, agricultural mulch and small containers and be replaced by biodegradable plastics, this will be a big step towards improving the environment," Hong Xiulie said. The chief researcher of the Seoul-based resource recovery consulting company told ABC News.

Hyun Soo Kim of ABC News contributed to this report.

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