Here in AU, most commercial hive operators are using very basic wooden hives - many aren't even using (metal) mesh bases, which are a common home-scale defence against things like Small Hive Beetle (SHB) because at scale it's a significant cost, both cap-ex and op-ex.
In 2015, the Flow Hive guys broke all kinds of kickstarter records with their plastic frame / externally-harvestable hive, though we've had plastic frames around for a lot longer than that. The bees don't seem to mind, but the only metric we have are 'do they stick around?'.
Given they're free to leave at any time if they don't like their home, that's a pretty reasonable measure.
Before varroa were identified as one of the key causal factors of colony collapse, there were questions around whether the natural wax foundation, with its regular, and perhaps slightly under-sized cells, were part of the problem. Same question with plastic foundation / frames. Empirical evidence suggests that the kinds of high-quality plastic that's used in beehives isn't, so far as we can tell, part of the problem.
In 2015, the Flow Hive guys broke all kinds of kickstarter records with their plastic frame / externally-harvestable hive, though we've had plastic frames around for a lot longer than that. The bees don't seem to mind, but the only metric we have are 'do they stick around?'. Given they're free to leave at any time if they don't like their home, that's a pretty reasonable measure.
Before varroa were identified as one of the key causal factors of colony collapse, there were questions around whether the natural wax foundation, with its regular, and perhaps slightly under-sized cells, were part of the problem. Same question with plastic foundation / frames. Empirical evidence suggests that the kinds of high-quality plastic that's used in beehives isn't, so far as we can tell, part of the problem.