BDP bags up bioplastics for biodegradable alternative

China-based BDP Green Technology's name says it all—biodegradable plastics.

President Eric Schmidt said that while it's not extremely original, it fittingly reflects what the company does. The company provides low-cost recyclable bioplastic for a few pennies more than traditional plastic bags, Schmidt told the Cleantech Group. The products are applicable anywhere that uses plastic bags, including grocery stores and hospitals.

BDP, which has been self-funded to date, is seeking $3 million to $5 million to hire more sales and marketing staff, build a larger testing facility and set up a U.S. office to prove it can do it.

“Traditional plastics are about a $2 trillion market,” Schmidt said. “Twenty to 30 percent can be replaced by biodegradable plastics, but only 0.1 percent is.”

Schmidt, who has an environmental engineering and management background, has been based in China the past seven years working in venture capital and private equity. He is also the founder of China Entrepreneurs, the first entrepreneurship networking initiative to hit Beijing.

BDP is looking to manufacture its biodegradable plastic bags in the United States and China, but Schmidt has realized it most likely won’t be starting in China first.

“The environmental standard and responsibility among companies in China isn’t where it is in the rest of the world,” Schmidt said.

The company talked with an undisclosed China supermarket, which would like to implement its technology, but the cost is too prohibitive. Biodegradable plastic bags are about 30 percent to 50 percent more expensive than traditional bags, depending on the type of product, Schmidt said. It costs about 3 cents to 5 cents for a traditional bag, versus 8 cents for a biodegradable bag.

BDP’s bioplastic products include compostable, biodegradable and water-soluble plastics. BDP claims its plastics perform at the same level as traditional plastics in products such as grocery and garbage bags, where the majority of bioplastics fail. Its plastics, which Schmidt said are stronger and more durable than competitors' plastics, are suitable for blow molding, injection molding, and extrude hollow blow molding to make bags, plastic products in hospitals, wrapping, toys, boxes, sporting goods and more.

Its hydrosoluable bags dissolve without leaving residue. The plastic dissolves in water at room temperature, and even more rapidly in water at temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), Schmidt said. That opens up uses in hospital laundry capacities, preventing staff from being exposed to contaminated items.

“With hydrosoluable, you throw the whole thing into the washing machine,” Schmidt said.

The company also has developed a product that degrades quickly when exposed to a normal compost environment. This material is ideal for use in the consumer packaging, medical and consumer electronics sectors. The final by-products of the degradation are water, carbon dioxide and biomass.

The company, founded in 2008, has done some research and development in a small testing facility, but is looking to build a larger, 2,400-ton facility. BDP has 10 employees.

Schmidt said BDP is talking to potential customers worldwide to get a sense of the market. BDP received a positive response in the Middle East, including Oman, which Schmidt said recognizes the need for the company’s solution.

Canadian companies, the Singapore government and France are all looking to ban plastic bags. French expects to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2010, which Schmidt said should create demand for BDP’s products.

The adoption of bioplastics is going to take public education. There are some markets in which packaging can be less aesthetically pleasing, but sells better because the population understands it’s better for the environment (see Packaging: The most important part of what you buy?).

Retailers and consumers have felt pressure from environmental groups concerned about landfills and oceans overwhelmed with non-recyclable or compostable plastics (see The dirty little secret of plastic recycling).

BDP is one of 20 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its dealflow database this week, available exclusively to members of the Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the dealflow database.

Interested in investing in cleantech companies? Here are two U.S.-based companies from the Cleantech Group's dealflow database also looking for funding:

• Virginia-based EnergyWare is seeking a $3 million funding round from venture and strategic partners to accelerate product and business development. The company, which has raised $1.2 million to date from undisclosed investors, develops software solutions based on patented technology to reduce energy consumption of computer servers by 25 percent while maintaining performance. The technology was originally developed by a supercomputing group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The company’s CEO is Bob Summers.

• Sunnyvale-based Bridgelux is seeking to raise a Series E round of $25 million to $40 million, which it launched in November (see BridgeLux eyes $25M for LEDs). The light-emitting diode company recently released a line of packaged LED chips for the general lighting market. The pre-packaged design saves much of the engineering work for its customer companies, helping to speed the time to market of new LED lights. Since the company's founding in 2002, it has raised $63.5 million from investors including VentureTech Alliance, DCM, El Dorado Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, and Harris & Harris Group (see Two funds expand cleantech plans).

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