ABSTRACT
Another prejudice that occasionally emerges concerning biodegradable polymers is one that compares these materials directly with traditional polymers. One positive aspect of traditional polymers is that they are essentially resistant to biodegradation. This is one of the elements that led to the global commercial success and spread of these materials in the last century. In this chapter, we need not remember the enormous advantages that plastic materials have provided to society, in the most varied sectors. The problems caused by waste, which are often presented as the negative side to plastics, are more a question of poor waste management, than of the intrinsic characteristics of the polymers. Moreover, the problems reached their peak especially during the boom period of plastic packaging, when the exponential growth of the use of new packaging techniques of consumer products was not accompanied by the creation of systems for disposing them.
