USDA Gives a Big (Green) Thumbs Up

Many papers and sessions at COMPOSITES 2010 focused on green products and technologies, and a Thursday morning session titled Bio-Based Composites of the Federal BioPreferred Program was no exception. But as you might have gleamed from the name, this session was unique due to a federal program directly reaching out to the composites industry.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed the BioPreferred program to establish new markets for bio-based products. Ron Buckhalt, program manager for BioPreferred, says that even as the industry is turning to greener ingredients, oil dependence is still a detriment. “Soybeans are being used more, but they’re a food, and when the oil prices go up, so do food prices,” he said.

One of the major initiatives Buckhalt discussed was the voluntary labeling program. The effort would also culminate in a system where green-eligible products would be stamped with an approved USDA label, much like the Energy Star system for electronics. What determines eligibility isn’t precisely known at this point, but Buckhalt said that whatever the level is should be an industry standard. “Companies don’t have the capability to go too high, but we could be looking at 30 percent,” he says.

The program is currently set up into five categories: acoustical panels, interior panels, plastic lumber panels, structural interior panels, and structural wall panels. But this is where the USDA is reaching out directly to the composites industry to help structure this area in such a way that benefits composites. “We need input from you as to how to categorize these,” Buckhalt said.

The program currently comprises 4,500 products from 1,000 companies in markets such as construction, food service, transportation, and facility operations/maintenance. Manufacturers currently involved include Agriboard, which manufactures structural panels from straw, and BioFoam Tech, which produces green surfboards.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under General Interest, Manufacturing and Processes, Sustainability and Green Manufacturing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.