At a Glance
Bioplastics, especially biodegradable or, to be more precise, compostable bioplastics, have been in use for the past 20 to 25 years. Initial expectations were high — they became the “great white hope” of the plastics industry — but price, performance, availability, and applicability relegated these materials to specific niche markets, such as flexible packaging or agriculture.
The lack of knowledge also raised nomenclature problems. How biodegradable plastics degrade, especially under what conditions, caused confusion among many companies, where it was thought that these plastics would disintegrate spontaneously after a certain period of use.
In the end, it was not clear if there was less interest in biodegradable plastics than initially thought or if total capacity stayed low because existing production satisfied market needs.
Global bioplastics production breaks 2-million-tonne barrier
In the last decade, the production of biodegradable plastics showed low annual growth rates, rarely exceeding 1.5 million tonnes per year. But in 2022, global bioplastics production — biodegradable and non-fossil-based plastics, bio-PE, and bio-PET, for example — surpassed the barrier of 2 million tonnes, with biodegradable plastics accounting for 1.2 million tonnes, according to a report on the European bioplastics market.
– https://www.plasticstoday.com/biopolymers/are-bioplastics-finally-ready-for-take-off-