ABSTRACT
The recent conspicuous degradation of the environment caused by human beings has fostered the development of an environmental consciousness in product design. The majority of conventional plastics and composites used today are derived from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. A very high percentage of these materials end up in landfills causing, significant end-of-life disposal problems. Plant-based natural polymers offer a sustainable, yearly renewable, and environmentally friendly solution to the current plastic waste problem. Biodegradable polymers such as polysaccharides and proteins obtained from plants, animals, and microbes are convenient and offer several advantages over petroleum-derived synthetic polymers. Biodegradable polymers could be an alternative to conventional plastic materials. Because these polymers are biodegradable, they can be disposed of in a safe and ecologically sound manner, through disposal processes such as composting, soil applications, and biological wastewater treatment. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics can form the basis for environmentally preferable, sustainable alternatives to current materials that are based exclusively on petroleum feedstock. These bio-based materials offer value in the sustainable life-cycle equation by being a part of the biological carbon cycle, and they are a green option for tackling plastic pollution. This chapter highlights the significance of biopolymers and their production, applications, types, cheap substrate sources, sustainability, and biodegradability.
