Biodegradable plastic

Biodegradable plastics are plastics that decompose by the action of living organisms, usually bacteria.

Two basic classes of biodegradable plastics exist:Bioplastics, whose components are derived from renewable raw materials, and plastics made from petrochemicals containing biodegradable additives which enhance biodegradation.

Examples of biodegradable plastics

Bioplastic

Bioplastics are plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, or microbiota. Bioplastic can be made from agricultural byproducts and also from used plastic bottles and other containers using microorganisms. Common plastics, such as fossil-fuel plastics (also called petrobased polymers), are derived from petroleum or natural gas. Production of such plastics tends to require more fossil fuels and to produce more greenhouse gases than the production of biobased polymers (bioplastics). Some, but not all, bioplastics are designed to biodegrade. Biodegradable bioplastics can break down in either anaerobic or aerobic environments, depending on how they are manufactured. Bioplastics can be composed of starches, cellulose, biopolymers, and a variety of other materials.

Biobased polymer derived from the biomass or issued from monomers derived
from the biomass and which, at some stage in its processing into finished
products, can be shaped by flow.