With the rise in concern over sustainability, members of the design community have increasingly demanded alternative plastics. Ideally, all manufacturers should be moving toward what are known as biopolymers or bioplastics – those polymers derived from renewable and often plantbased sources. As with any pioneering venture, R&D and the actual production of bioplastics in architectural products are fraught with their own challenges to producing durable products at price levels acceptable to the market. In addition, some have raised concerns that production of biopolymers may divert potential arable land from food production to industrial goods agriculture, with supposed impacts on world hunger.