Ecological considerations on the use and production of biosynthetic and synthetic biodegradable polymers

The use of renewable raw material in technical products or consumer goods always requires the additional use of non-renewable resources. Regarding the whole product life cycle the total demand of non-renewable resources can be higher than the demand of a comparable petrochemical product in concrete cases. Saving resources by using renewable raw material will only be achieved if the whole system is carefully optimized. Biodegradability means no disadvantage concerning waste management, if a suitable labelling and a distinguished waste collection is provided. Biodegradability is an advantageous property only in those cases where it is implicitly demanded by the application (example: waste bag which is supposed to be composted including its content). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.