Greening the Plastics Industry: Advances and Challenges in Bioplastics Research

Bioplastics are an emerging class of sustainable materials that have gained significant attention due to their potential to reduce the environmental impact associated with conventional petroleum-based plastics. Bioplastics can be produced from renewable resources by microbial fermentation. Microbes can directly accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates inside the cell or can produce various precursor molecules which can be further used to produce bioplastic. However, the commercial viability of bioplastics is limited by several challenges, including high production costs, limited feedstock availability, and inferior mechanical properties compared to conventional plastics.