Bioplastics

♤ Bioplastics are plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, pea starch or microbiota. Bioplastic can be made from agricultural byproducts and also from used plastic bottles and other containers using microorganisms

♤ Bioplastics can be composed of starches, cellulose, biopolymers, and a variety of other materials.

♤ Applications:Bioplastics are used for disposable items, such as packaging, crockery, cutlery, pots, bowls, and straws.They are also often used for bags, trays, fruit and vegetable containers and blister foils, egg cartons, meat packaging, vegetables, and bottling for soft drinks and dairy products.

♤ These plastics are also used in non-disposable applications including mobile phone casings, carpet fibres, insulation car interiors, fuel lines, and plastic piping,

♤ New electroactivebioplastics are being developed that can be used to carry electrical current. Also, Medical implants made of bioplastics which dissolve in the body, can save patients a second operation.

♤ Advantages:Bioplastics are designed to biodegrade and production of some of the bioplastics is cheaper than normal plastics.

♤ Common plastics, such as fossil-fuel plastics, are derived from petroleum. Production of common plastics requires more fossil fuels and produces more greenhouse gas so bioplastics are more environment friendly.

♤ Some of the normal plastics can be toxic in nature (eg. Poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) and formaldehyde-based laminate work surfaces). Bioplastics could solve the problem to an extent.

♤ Some States like Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan have totally banned plastic bags and others are moving towards that but it is still miles to go, so bioplastics can be good environment friendly alternative.

♤ Shrimp shells which can be used for manufacturing bio-plastic products so Aqua farmers now can fetch good money from shrimp shell