One of the great challenges of living green is making changes that are green at every level. For example, what good is an electric car that must be charged from a coal-operated power plant?
Bioplastics are a good example of this conundrum. It’s great to use materials that aren’t as persistent in the environment, but we aren’t helping enough if we continue to consume large amounts of electricity to produce them.
And to add a third angle to the conversation, many small towns have chosen to enter the bioplastics industry. In sparsely populated areas like rural Texas, these firms can provide great opportunities for economic development.
A key part of this prospect is to have a green production process that requires less energy. When that is the case, companies have more choices about where to locate because they aren’t limited to the areas where big providers are situated. This is a key advantage for Texas in particular, because the electrical market is deregulated there. With that model, firms are free not only to choose the best geographic location for their facilities but also the most cost-efficient options from among their local electricity companies.
So as long as this hurdle can be overcome, the industry holds a number of key benefits for rural areas that are investigating this option.
Durability of the Market
Small towns working to establish new employers are wisely learning from the tough lessons in Detroit and similar cities. Specifically, they know they cannot afford to risk their few precious eggs in a single basket. They don’t have the economic ability to shrug off a collapse in a monolithic market and move on to Plan B. They must succeed with their first choice.
The momentum toward bioplastics is clear. Concerns over petroleum inputs and near-eternal existence of the products have many consumers willing to purchase such products. As long as these communities can establish such facilities with existing infrastructure, confidence is high in their promise.
Modest Labor Needs
For a community of a few thousand residents to establish a durable employer, that facility must require a fairly low number of workers. This is driven from both sides; the companies won’t establish or relocate in a place without sufficient work force, and as noted above, towns aren’t willing to gamble with a high percentage of their work force.
Production processes for bioplastic are such that they do not require an armada of workers. Even a few dozen can easily staff the factory, getting the product onto the market and building demand. Should that lead to a need for expansion, the industry can add similar facilities in other needful towns, rather than build a single massive plant in a tiny town. This spreads the economic gain and reduces commuting that is environmentally and economically costly.
Abundant Raw Materials
As noted above, small towns are situated among millions of acres of the “bio” in bioplastics. When soybeans and other base materials are plentiful and nearby, it is helpful with transport costs. The many tons of inputs that produce significantly fewer tons of finish products should be transported the shortest possible distance for processing. That lowers both the cost and the environmental impact of transportation.
Bioplastics represent an incredible growth field that can help the environment tremendously. But a broader view of these items–specifically, a perspective that reflects production costs and their environmental impact–can lead to a more economically and environmentally profitable outcome.