Plastic waste disposal is a huge ecotechnological problem and one of the approaches to solving this problem is the development of biodegradable plastics. This review summarizes data on their use, biodegradability, commercial reliability and production from renewable resources. Some commercially successful biodegradable plastics are based on chemical synthesis (i.e. polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, and polyvinyl alcohol). Others are products of microbial fermentations (i.e. polyesters and neutral polysaccharides) or are prepared from chemically modified natural products (e.g., starch, cellulose, chitin or soy protein).

• MeSH
• Bacteria metabolism   MeSH
• Biodegradation, Environmental MeSH
• Biotechnology methods   MeSH
• Cellulose chemistry   metabolism   MeSH
• Fungi metabolism   MeSH
• Plastics chemical synthesis   metabolism   MeSH
• Polyesters metabolism   MeSH
• Polymers MeSH
• Plants metabolism   MeSH
• Starch chemistry   metabolism   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Cellulose MeSH
• Plastics MeSH
• Polyesters MeSH
• Polymers MeSH
• Starch MeSH