While the first man-made plastics were derived from biomass resources, they were progressively replaced as of the 1930's by petrochemical polymers. Plastic production and consumption reached approximately 245 million metric tons in 2008 worldwide and is expected to increase with economic growth in developing and emerging countries. With an estimated per capita plastic consumption of up to 140 kg annually in 2015, Europe and North America will remain the top positions, while packaging is the largest end use of thermoplastic resins (32%), followed by building and construction applications (14%), consumer and institutional products (13%) and other application that include medical and recreational products (14%) in the U.S. [1, 2]. However, these conventional plastics have the disadvantage that they are produced from diminishing fossil petroleum resources such as gas and petroleum and once they are produced and manufactured into consumable products they are very resistant to degradation processes which leads to litter problems, injury to wildlife and disposal may cause environmental damage due to emissions from combustion. Due to these concerns, there has been increasing interest in bio-based plastics. In principle, biodegradable polymers and plastics can also be manufactured from petrochemical raw materials. However, bio-based plastics, are defined here as plastics that are fully or partially produced from renewable feedstock. Biodegradable bio-based plastics in particular have the potential to replace traditional plastics in applications ranging from packaging, to disposable road signs, to drug delivery, while they do not significantly impact the environment.
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