Using Maple Syrup To Make Bioplastics
by Justin Thomas, Virginia 
on 03.29.07
Researchers in Canada have discovered that maple syrup may aid in the production of bioplastic. It turns out that a form of bacteria called alcaligenes latus has a sweet tooth, and behaves particularly ravenously when exposed to maple sap and syrup. Researchers found that the bacteria not only thrive when added to maple syrup, but also transform the sugars in the sap into a family of natural polymers that can be used to make plastic-like materials that are biodegradable – everything from "green" food packaging to drug-delivery films that dissolve harmlessly in the body.
"We're not talking about plastic to replace the petroleum industry, we're talking about biopolymers with unique applications in the food and medical industry," says Jalal Hawari, a senior researcher at Canada's National Research Council.
The implications, he adds, are potentially enormous to an industry with vast potential for expansion and far more supply than it can sell.
Via: The Star
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"far more supply than it can sell" -- has he looked at the price of Maple Syrup lately? Or ever?
I'm no mapple syrup insider, but I bet the prices are kept artificially high and they have to dump some of it to avoid flooding the market..
Just a hunch.
My family has a maple syrup business in canada, and I can tell you, even though i'm not that intimately connected to it, the climate changes (winter being warmer) has negatively affected they syrup business, and maple syrup is getting a lot harder to make. You have to boil a RIDICULOUS amount of sap to get what you end up with. Just FYI.
i don't think it's artificial pricing. a gallon of syrup requires boiling down 40 gallons of sap. collection is quite a setup too. i'd like to know about this excessive supply.
The post said "when exposed to maple sap and syrup," so maybe you don't have to boil down the sap (40:1) into syrup for the bacteria to do its thing.
It is a very labor intensive undertaking to produce syrup. We make very little profit on the 120 gallons of finished syrup we produce every year. We do it because its fun.
Plastic producers would be using the raw sap in a controlled setting to grow specific bacteria that will give them the polymer byproducts that can be processed into finished plastic. I think the practicality of this technology was correctly identified by Yves Quenneville, a business development officer with the National Research Council Canada. He says, "commercial viability will be directly linked with the economics of collecting, transporting and storing the maple sap before fermentation."
Follow the link at the end of the article to the Toronto Star to read the full article.
no it does not take 40:1 first time for me on makeing syrup and i can tell you its more like 20:1 30:1 the trees need a rest they need it so the sugar can build up again.
for my first time at this i have 4 gals and geting more thats from 12 trees....
i live in pa and hope to sell some of it off.