How green are petro-polymers going to be?

摘要

The controversy between "petro-polymers" and "green polymers" is a false one. Polymers synthesized by organisms, manipulated or not, are seen as green. Polymers based on cracker products, so called petro-polymers, are considered to be environmentally unfriendly. Arguments used in favour of "natural" polymers are: biodegradability, renewable resources, recyclability, non waste producing etc. We think that several of these arguments are incorrect or irrelevant. Furthermore, we are convinced that petro-polymers might move substantially towards a sustainable situation. It might seem strange, but the most important steps towards such a situation have to be made not in the field of petro-polymers themselves but in the domain of energy supply. [References: 4]