Policy and reports

In today’s world, chemicals often find themselves cast in a villainous light. From health warnings to environmental alarms, they’re seen as villains, their reputation tarnished. But while some chemicals do pose risks, it’s time to rethink the narrative. Many of the substances we fear are actually essential to the progress and functioning of modern society.

As we stand in 2025, we find ourselves at a pivotal midpoint between two significant milestones: the turn of the millennium and the globally agreed deadline to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The next 25 years represent a critical window for transformative action, and at the heart of this transformation lies the bioeconomy.

Read the letter we recently sent to policy makers and government officials about the bio-based sector is vital for the UK economy and net zero

BBIA report on the economic and environmental benefits of a transformative UK bioeconomy

The United States EPA has now ruled that the production of PET poses a health risk both to workers and to the surrounding community, including through pollution of water courses. This ruling creates a serious dilemma for the plastics industry as it will certainly now face considerable legal challenges to existing production sites and new ones planned.

BBIA response to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations call for submissions to guide development of a Voluntary Code of Conduct on the sustainable use of plastics in agriculture.

Systemiq has published another report, in time for the UN negotiations on the Plastic Treaty and the UN Climate Week in New York last month, on how to affront and resolve the plastic waste crisis.

BBIA has published a critique of the Biomass Strategy which we have posted on our website here.

BBIA has published its responses to the Call for Evidence launched by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee into DEFRA meeting its targets for resource and waste policy reforms, including EPR.

So-called eco-friendly paper straws may not be so friendly after all. A report finds that they often contain PFAS known as forever chemicals because of their toxic persistence in the environment.

A critique of the circular economy, and how it has become a marketing tool rather than a real instrument of ecological change, is published in this American review.

An analysis of the US policies which are ‘driving the bioeconomy forward’ is made in this interesting interview /article which should be a guide also for policymakers in the UK struggling to create a coherent focus on the UK bioeconomy.