The Bioplastics Feedstock Alliance (BFA) seeks to help guide the responsible selection of feedstocks for biobased plastics in order to encourage a more sustainable flow of materials, helping to create lasting value for present and future generations.
- Pre-Competitive
Sharing knowledge and collaborating to drive positive change for the bioplastics industry at scale.
- Science-Based
Utilizing informed science to understand current and future sustainability improvements of feedstocks for plant-based plastics.
- Stewardship
Encouraging environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable production of bioplastic feedstocks.
- Members
The founding members of the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance are: The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Ford, H.J. Heinz Company, Nestle, Nike, Inc., P&G, Unilever and World Wildlife Fund. These organizations are now supported by academic experts, supply chain partners, suppliers, and technology development companies in working groups focusing on a variety of issues including sustainability standards, metrics and evaluation tools.
- Overview
The Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance (BFA) was formed by some of the world’s leading consumer brand companies as a precompetitive, multi-stakeholder forum focused on increasing awareness around the environmental and social performance of potential feedstock sources for bio-based plastics. Founding members of the BFA include: The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Ford Motor Company, H.J. Heinz Company, Nestle, Nike, Inc., P&G and Unilever. These global companies, together with respected academic and NGO thought leaders, are all committed to using informed science and critical thinking to help guide the responsible selection of feedstocks for biobased plastics in order to encourage a more sustainable flow of materials, helping to create lasting value for present and future generations. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) supports the responsible management of natural resources while meeting the increasing demands of a growing population. As a part of this commitment, WWF has helped to convene the BFA in order to enable progress toward realizing its important objectives.
- Why We Joined Together
The emerging bioeconomy has so far been characterized by the development of biofuel technology and markets around the world. As that industry has matured, a number of critical issues have come into focus such as resource competition for food, land, water and energy. These issues represent challenges to the future growth of the bioplastics industry as a part of that bioeconomy. The BFA seeks to identify the potential impacts of the bioplastic industry and possible measures to mitigate them. In this way, BFA can help move the bioplastic industry’s emerging supply chain in a positive direction.
- The Opportunities and The Challenges
Over the past 15 years progress in life science technology and in agricultural production systems has made it increasingly possible to envision a future where renewable carbon from plants replaces fossil carbon in the production of chemicals and materials needed by society. This new industrial production system has been labeled the “bioeconomy.” It is now possible to explore the real possibility of reducing the carbon intensity of materials such as those used in packaging, textiles, automotive, sports equipment, and a wide range of other industrial and consumer goods applications.
However, the bioeconomy also represents a potential shift in industrial production towards the use of agricultural and forestry feedstocks as raw, by-product, or waste materials and concerns about converting nature to industrial production models needs to be fully considered.
- What We Seek To Accomplish
Therefore, BFA seeks to evaluate the diversity of potential bioplastic feedstocks using state of the art science to ensure a common understanding of current and potential future sustainability improvements that each may offer. We will continuously monitor their development against our expectations for improvement and help drive positive change at scale. Only in this way can we have confidence that bioplastics will deliver the progress we hope for.
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