Do we have biodegradable material that is cheap and easy to produce , and thus able to replace plastic, in order to damage the environment less? if not, how close are we to making one?
In: Chemistry
Like, as a general replacement for plastic? No.
The thing it, many of the things that make plastic useful are characteristics that easily biodegradable materials don’t have. Plastic is good at not falling apart when wet, not rotting, etc. It makes a good container for holding food specifically because it doesn’t break down easily. It’s useful for holding liquids specifically because it doesn’t mind getting wet.
We can make bioplastics, sure. You can even buy them in stores; “biodegradable” cups and straws and the like. But read the fine print; you can’t just chuck ’em on your compost pile. They’re biodegradable only in specialized industrial facilities. So, in order for them to not harm the environment, they need to be collected and processed properly. Which is more or less true of conventional plastics as well. It’s not so much that plastic itself is a problem. it’s that we use too much of it and that people dispose of it improperly.
Some areas are getting closer for sure, the company i work for are working on a paper beer bottle and a battery made from paper.
Your question is really broad. There are *a lot* of types of plastics and they are found in *a lot* of applications.
A good way to think about it is to ask: where do plastics add dramatic improvements? Rather than: where can we use plastics?
Many places we can substitute a different material for a specific application. In a very few applications, there is no good alternative. Some applications aren’t really necessary at all, being things done out of inertia rather than need.
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