Plastics of the Future? The Impact of Biodegradable Polymers on the Environment

Abstract

With the increasing reports on the environmental distribution and ecological risks of petrochemical plastics and microplastics, degradable plastics are considered as the optimal alternative to the traditional plastics. Compared with the traditional petrochemical plastics, the market of biodegradable plastics is still small but growing rapidly. At the same time, knowledge on the environmental distribution and ecological risks of biodegradable plastics is still limited, although their production and application continue to improve. Biodegradable plastics are divided into semi-biodegradable plastics and fully biodegradable plastics. Their ecological risks may show significant differences. In the soil environment, the particle size, shape, molecular weight of plastics, the type of functional groups in the molecular structure, and the additives added to plastics may play different roles in the biodegradation of biodegradable plastics. In current chapter, the available information of current researches on biodegradable plastics in the environment is reviewed. The environmental risk and future development of degradable plastics are also discussed.