bioplasticsMAGAZINE_0704

Opinion
Article contributed by
Miriam Wehrli, Project Manager and
Dr. Markus A. Meier, Head Market Platform Packaging
Market Platform Packaging, Ciba Inc., Basel, Switzerland
Biopolymers as an
option for sustainability
– Quo vadis?
Sustainability has become the new buzzword
in our modern and environmentally aware
society. Government authorities, organizations
and companies all over the world are increasingly
coming up with initiatives to improve
sustainable development while striking the right
balance between environmental, social and economic
concerns.
Specifically relating to the packaging market, the
focus is on reducing carbon footprint and in this
regard, biopolymers are consistently in the spotlight.
When compared to traditional plastics, these
new types of emerging polymers bring numerous
modified properties such as a higher water-vapor
transmission rate (WVTR) and biodegradability.
The latter, however, often leads to confusion and
consumers too often do not know how to deal with
this new feature, what makes them unsure of the
real benefits of biopolymers.
Do we need biodegradable polymers?
Biodegradability is an attribute which is often
associated on the one hand with environmental
friendliness but on the other hand, also with
instability of the polymer and low performance.
Currently biodegradability is frequently used as a
marketing tool, although not all aspects of biodegradability
are known and therefore hardly foreseeable.
32 bioplastics MAGAZINE [07/04] Vol. 2