São Paulo, Brazil-based Braskem, a large maker of conventional plastics, said the ethanol-based, high density polyethylene plastic is made up entirely of materials that are renewable. The company has invested $5 million to develop the product and aims to begin commercial production of up to 200,000 tons a year by the end of 2009.

Plastics are an indispensable—albeit unsexy—fact of modern life, yet 99 percent of it is made from oil. But that’s changing, researchers said, as companies large and small scramble to come up with ways to reduce dependence on the fossil fuel to make plastics and to ride the tidal wave of popularity for all things “green.”

“It’s starting to catch on because companies are starting to figure out it’s a marketing tool,” said Ron Hatfield, deputy director at Miami-based Beta Analytic, a radiocarbon dating laboratory that tests materials for fossil carbon and renewable carbon content.   

Braskem isn’t immune to the marketing bug. The firm, which couldn’t be reached for further details, claims its sugar cane-derived polyethylene material is the first “certified green” bioplastic in the world, based on lab results from Beta Analytic.

But it’s hard to know what that really means. Experts note that there are two sides to “green” plastics – what they’re made of and whether or not they are biodegradable. Polyethylene – a series of carbon atoms – may not biodegrade, even if originally made from renewable raw materials. Bioplastics are made either from starches or from fermentation, in which micro-organisms are fed sugar-based feedstocks like hydrolyzed corn syrup.

However it is made, bioplastics are a growing market, and both giant multinational corporations and technology-focused startups are working to advance and commercialize all manner of new technologies.

Last year, Archer Daniels Midland and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Metabolix formed a joint venture to commercialize plastics made from microbial fermentation. Segetis, a Minneapolis-based startup, raised $15 million in funding from Khosla Ventures in April to develop chemical and plastic products from agricultural and forestry feedstocks. Cargill is also getting into the act.

All that boils down to the mundane items of everyday life – from your morning coffee cup to the sole of your shoe. Eugene Stevens, a State University of New York at Binghamton chemistry professor who works on starch-based plastics, said throwaway items like forks and cups, plates and spoons finally are becoming available.

“Ten years ago, you couldn’t get anything like this,” said Mr. Stevens, adding that the market is just beginning to pick up. “You can’t buy them in the supermarket, but you can buy them on the Web.”

But there won’t be any room on the shelf at Safeway unless scientists can make bioplastics as cheap and reliable as their petroleum counterparts.