Sustainable polymer makers go under

Demonstrating that making sustainable plastics isn’t necessarily a sustainable business, two prominent green plastics operations—the biobased polymer maker Danimer Scientific and Brightmark’s plastics pyrolysis plant—have gone bankrupt. Danimer filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware. It is seeking approval for $15 million in financing that will help it wind down operations and sell its assets. Danimer opened a plant in Winchester, Kentucky, in 2020 to make polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) via fermentation. The company anticipated a vibrant market for the biobased and biodegradable polymer in single-use plastics applications like straws, cup lids, produce bags, and utensils. Later that year, Danimer went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) . It had plans to triple the size of the Winchester plant and build a large facility in Bainbridge, Georgia. In 2021 it purchased Novomer, which made similar polymers. But Danimer’s fortunes have been on the decline ever since as the