Kelvin Okamoto

Testing and Specification of Water Biodegradability

Abstract

ASTM, ISO and other standards organizations have and are trying to develop standards for testing and specification of water biodegradability/non-biodegradability. An overview of existing standards will be presented along with the lengthy effort needed to revise and develop new standards.

About the Speaker

Kelvin Okamoto is President of his own consulting firm, Green Bottom Line, that focuses on sustainable materials and packaging development, commercialization, testing and certification. Kelvin has over 30 years of experience in the plastics and packaging industries working on materials, equipment, process and packaging development and commercialization. Kelvin Okamoto is also founder and CEO of Gen3Bio, a startup company focused on producing biobased chemicals and subsequent bioplastics from microalgae. Previously, Kelvin was Chief Technical Officer for bioplastics manufacturer Cereplast with responsibilities including material formulation, technology strategy and evaluation, intellectual property coordination, quality control and regulatory certifications. Prior to that he managed materials and process development for Solo Cup. He has also worked for TaylorMade Golf, Trexel, Packaging Corporation of America, Himont and GE Plastics. Kelvin holds a Ph.D. Chemistry from Cornell University and a B.S. Chemistry from Stanford University and is a member of the American Chemical Society and is an Honored Service Member of the Society of Plastics Engineers’ (SPE). For ASTM, Kelvin is the chair of the ASTM D20.96 subcommittee that deals with biodegradation and biobased standards for plastics and is Vice-Chair of Products for D20 Plastics, which oversees other subcommittees include D20.95 Plastics Recycling. Kelvin is also on the USDA Biopreferred Program Technical Advisory Council and is on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Recycling Coalition. Kelvin is a registered patent agent and holds 17 patents and nine additional patent applications.