Past, Present, and Promises by Patricia H. Graham

Therefore, the chemical companies and the plastic industry remain reluctant toward the introduction of completely new plastic materials and typically maintain a more conservative approach in marketing plastics with completely new chemical structures even if they can be fully obtained from sustainable resources. (10) Moreover, material properties of newly invented plastics are often inferior to those of established thermoplastics, making it difficult to compete with conventional technologies. (2,5−9) However, the process of creating new plastics and establishing their life cycle analysis is long, costly and risk-taking for the chemical industry. (3,4) Bio-based polymers that are degradable are considered to be a solution for the landfill waste and have been reviewed widely in the literature.

(2) Thus, degradation analysis over prolonged periods has become possible and the influence of key parameters such as crystallinity and hydrophobicity can be studied alongside the chemical structures and toxicity of resulting plastic degradation products. (1) Owing to the excellent chemical stability of plastic materials and their low degradation rates in the environment, the accumulated plastic waste in landfills and marine environments has become more and more noticeable over the last decade. The amount of plastics produced ever worldwide has exceeded 8.3 billion metric tons and a large proportion of these materials has ended up in a landfill. In this review, we have highlighted the very recent examples on the synthesis of common monomers using chemicals from sustainable feedstocks that can be used as a like-for-like substitute to prepare conventional petrochemical-free thermoplastics. Hence, the production of the common plastic materials with exactly the same chemical structures that does not require any new registration processes better reflects the reality of how to address the critical future of sustainable plastics. Therefore, developing a fully sustainable new plastic material with even a slightly different chemical structure is a costly and long process.

Multibillion-dollar companies are established around these plastic materials, and each polymer takes years to optimize, secure intellectual property, comply with the regulatory bodies such as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and the Environmental Protection Agency and develop consumer confidence. Plastic materials at low costs with reliable properties have been utilized in many everyday products. Access to a wide range of plastic materials has been rationalized by the increased demand from growing populations and the development of high-throughput production systems.

Past, Present, and Promises by Patricia H. Graham