Do you like fried chicken? Would you eat French fries when you go to fast food restaurant? I believe most of us do. However, did you know that those oils used to cook your favorite meals are made by cutting down tons of trees? According to a study by European Commission,” Two of the top three drivers of global deforestation are vegetable oil crops.” (Nobbs, 2021) Moreover, even though there are some sustainable substitutes for vegetable oils, they are not generally used since they are expensive.
If we cannot reduce the use of unsustainable vegetable oil, we need to utilize it as much as possible. A company in Japan called Mitsui Chemical is doing an excellent job in this content. They created a new plastic made out of used cooking oil. Compared to conventional plastic made from fossil fuels, this plastic is made from biomass naphtha. According to the company, by the use of biomass naphtha, they say that they can incredibly reduce the emission of green gas from production stages to disposal. In addition, this new plastic has the same quality and looks as the plastic we use today; therefore, it could be implemented in various kinds of plastic products.
Although, there are still some drawbacks. One of them is the cost. As this plastic can only be produced using the latest technology, it would be more costly and inefficient than traditional plastic. Only time will determine whether this plastic will be used in general.
https://jp.mitsuichemicals.com/en/release/2021/2021_0520.htm
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263978/global-vegetable-oil-production-since-2000-2001/
https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/the-environmental-impact-of-vegetable-oils
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/forests/pdf/1.%20Report%20analysis%20of%20impact.pdf