Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Biodegradable Plastics

Plastics are polymers are polymers of different plastics, each having different characteristics depending on the chemical makeup of the molecules in the polymer. Plastics do not react chemically with most substances so it does not decay. This makes plastic very hard to dispose of in an environmentally friendly way. Currently, the best way for disposing of plastics is by recycling.

Some plants and microorganisms can produce substances that can be polymerized into bioplastics, which are biodegradable. To make bioplastics you can use bacteria to ferment biopolymers or genetically engineer plants to produce enzymes that make bioplastics.

Currently, bioplastics are a little expensive to produce, but technology is improving to make bioplastic production more feasible. Better economic production of bioplastics would give a renewable and environmentally friendly product in place of nonrenewable plastics.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic6.htm

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