ABSTRACT
Historically, the human beings have been given the task of looking for materials that can be used for the elaboration of different products that satisfy their needs. In this way, the use of metals, alloys, clays, ceramics and polymers, among others, arises. Among the aforementioned, polymers have become the star materials for various applications, since they are relatively easy to obtain, their mechanical properties are excellent, and the cost-benefit ratio is good. The use of polymers became popular in the 60's, however, a couple of decades later the contamination problem caused by these materials was very noticeable. The difficulty was that the use of products manufactured with polymers were considered disposable, which generated a large disposal of polymeric materials waste, which take centuries to degrade. This problem led to efforts to be made to find polymeric materials that were not so harmful to the environment and living beings in general. This is how the trend in the use of biodegradable polymers arose, which can be obtained from natural or synthetic sources, but unlike conventional polymers their degradation time is shorter, in addition to being usually biocompatible, which makes them ideal for various applications among which can be found, textiles, automotive, bone and tissue engineering, drug delivery, agriculture, among others. This chapter focuses on some of the biodegradable polymers in use today, as well as their latest trends and applications.
