Bio-Folien. Konsequenzen für die biologische Entsorgung

Biodegradable polymer materials in competition to standard materials from petrochemical sources are to be examined very carefully. Basic crucial points are: the environmental targets which give the yardstick for the comparison; the functionality of both product classes; the reality of waste management to be applied to product residues. As a conclusion, biodegradable polymers - preferably from renewable sources - will only be competitive to conventional polymers if processes for production, refinement etc. will not be too sophisticated and energy consuming, if comparable functionalities may be achieved by comparable amounts of material and an established biological waste management infrastructure. As the functionality plays the key role, an improvement of it is a must in regard of present performance of the biopolymers.