About BLoP

The Bioplastic Library of Polymers (BLoP) enables bioplastic polymer identification using Raman spectroscopy and μATR-FTIR analysis of environmental samples. Developed by researchers at the University of Toronto, BLoP addresses a critical gap in spectroscopic detection: most standard commercial libraries lack reference spectra for bioplastics, limiting environmental monitoring of these rapidly expanding materials. The library was published in Environmental Science & Technology (2025) and is freely available for integration with existing spectral matching workflows.

BLoP contains 31 spectra across 8 bioplastic polymer types (including polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and other bio-based and biodegradable polymers) sourced from consumer products currently in commercial distribution. The library achieved 79% material confirmation accuracy with Raman spectroscopy and 96% with μATR-FTIR when tested against suspected bioplastic samples. Furthermore, when queried against commercial spectral libraries, BLoP entries ranked in the top five matches 75% and 73% of the time for Raman and μATR-FTIR, respectively, demonstrating its utility as a complementary reference resource.

Key Features of BLoP

• Also includes spectra from 8 distinct bioplastic polymer chemistries covering non-biodegradable biobased, biodegradable biobased, and biodegradable fossil fuel-based polymers
• Furthermore, validated against real-world suspect samples with detection rates of 79% (Raman) and 96% (μATR-FTIR)
• In addition, designed for use alongside commercial libraries (e.g., Nicolet, Agilent) and open-access spectral databases to reduce false negatives in bioplastic identification
• Additionally, covers polymers sampled from consumer goods, ensuring relevance to environmental release pathways and degradation products

Access and Data Availability

BLoP is available free of charge as supporting information to the published article in Environmental Science & Technology. Access the library and methodology via the ACS EST publication page. Spectral data are provided in standard formats compatible with Raman and FTIR software platforms.

The authors recommend using BLoP in conjunction with established commercial libraries and complementary analytical approaches such as related microplastic identification databases such as SLOPP/SLOPP-e, FLOPP/FLOPP-e, or OpenSpecy to maximize detection confidence across bioplastic and conventional polymer matrices.

Community and Support

BLoP was developed collaboratively and represents an open-access contribution to microplastics research. The authors (Madeleine H. Milne and Chelsea M. Rochman, University of Toronto) invite use and integration of the library into institutional analytical workflows. Researchers are encouraged to cite the original publication and contribute additional bioplastic spectra to expand taxonomic coverage as new biopolymers enter commercial production.

This tool is part of the Plastiverse.org ecosystem, contributing to the collective knowledge and resources available for microplastics research.