SIMBIÒSI

full concept text

PLA bioplastics have emerged as a competitive product in the plastics and composites market, especially due to their environmental advantages compared to petroleum-based plastics. The required raw materials are plant-based rand enewable and the plastic is claimed to be fully biodegradable.
Through an intensive research and exchange with experts from the Fraunhofer UMSICHT Institute and the Italian research institute CNR, it became clear that the raw material cultivation in monoculture, and the compounds manufacturing with synthetic additives are most critical and hindering for the material’s recycling and biodegradability.

Addressing these issues critically was the starting point to envision a scenario in which a regenerative cultivation system and the production of local PLA-based materials could create new sustainable economic and social dynamics at the local level.
Plants are resilient, they live in absolute continuity and in total communion with the environment by entering into symbiosis with other living organisms.
How would a resources and materials cycle for PLA bioplastics work if it was based on the principles of mutualism? Would the resulting economic and social systems be more resilient
Based on these questions, SIMBIÒSI was conceived: a concept for the development of PLA compounds based on local resources and integrated into local cycles in the southern Italian region of Campania.
Here, tons of plastics are produced every year, which end up in the environment after a short life cycle or, in the best case, are incinerated, especially in the fishing and agricultural sectors. These sectors, together with tourism and gastronomy, build the basis of the regional economy. By rethinking the material flow dynamics between these sectors, it is possible to imagine a scenario in which PLA-based plastics are introduced, thereby creating not only a market for them, but also a framework to ensure a sustainable resource cycle.

Key to the concept is the extraction of the required raw materials, which are grown through an intercropping method. Native crops that are already important to the regional economy, such as grape, lupine and dye plants, would be paired according to their growth requirements and the function of the raw materials they provide. Additives, including dyes, are particularly important here. These are obtained either from production waste, for example from wine production, or from crops that support the balance of the soil through symbiosis with other micro-organisms.
For the production of natural fibre reinforced PLA composites, for example, hemp and woad are grown in polyculture. The dyeing plants woad, madder and reseda emphasise with a palette of blue, red and yellow tones the regional character of the materials.
Pre-dyeing of the fibres in the manufacturing process can emphasise both the technical and aesthetic qualities of the material. By introducing PLA plastics in the context of fisheries and gastronomy, the material could remain in use for several life cycles.
Disposable boxes made of expanded PLA would deliver fresh food, such as fish, to restaurants and other foodservice sectors and then be materially recycled and turned into furniture for the hospitality industry, an area with a very high usage factor.
According to a report by the FNR (Agency for Renewable Resources), almost all synthetic additives for plastics production can be replaced by bio-based ones. These could even increase the material’s biodegradability.
Such a cultivation system and use of the raw materials promotes the balance of the soil substance, produces a qualitatively higher yield and contributes to the preservation of biodiversity. Besides the environmental benefits, it helps to create a more circular market for the plastics, building on reconfigured resource and material flows and on a regional network composed of different local actors. However, the effects that a diversified agriculture, based on polyculture, may have on other economic and social dynamics are also relevant.