While biodegradable plastics currently account for a half percent of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic produced annually, a growing demand for the alternative reflects consumer awareness and corporate response.
While biodegradable plastics currently account for a half percent of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic produced annually, a growing demand for the alternative reflects consumer awareness and corporate response.
Researchers from Brazil, Germany and the United States document a multi-faceted global snapshot of the environmental aspects and trends surrounding single-use plastics in a review article titled “Rethinking single-use plastics: Innovations, policies, consumer awareness and market shaping biodegradable plastics in the packaging industry.” The piece was recently published in Trends in Food Science & Technology.
The researchers state that the largest area of application for biodegradable plastic materials is the packaging segment, which accounts for about half of single-use plastic production. The biodegradable packaging market was estimated to reach about $105 billion in 2024 with an expected annual growth rate of about 6 percent between 2024 and 2029, and 44 percent of patents filed worldwide for biodegradable polymers relate to packaging, the study noted.
Read more at: University of Arkansas
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