Degradable plastics: A critical review

A review of degradable plastics technology has revealed that several effective copolymer and additive methods are used commercially for photodegradable plastics. However, it was found that all commercial packaging plastics are not biodegradable; all of them because their molecular weights are too high and their structures are too rigid for assimilation by organisms, and most of them also because they have substituents which prevent biodegradation via the enzymatic fatty acid oxidation mechanism. Linear polyethylene is the only commercial packaging plastic with potential for biodegradation when its molecular weight has been reduced drastically by photodegradation. Degradable plastics are not a satisfactory solution to the problems of municipal solid waste. For those problems, multiple approaches need to be used, including especially recycling and incineration.