SOURCING BIOPLASTICS FROM PLANT-BASED WASTES: EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS

摘要

Biobased plastic materials have captured much attention recently, but the raw material sources for their building-block materials are typically food crops -certainly not an ideal situation, nor a sustainable approach. Less often discussed are the obscure biochemical processes that are used to transform organic waste materials into useful compounds for creating polymers and plastics. This paper reviews some of the latest developments in researchers' efforts toward exploiting wastes as raw materials - focusing here on plant-based food and industrial wastes. The paper will also discuss the practical issues and commercial limitations of "upcycling" these waste materials into biobased plastics.