Bio-Plastics refers to Bio-degradable Materials manufactured from Renewable Sources that can be used in Packaging of Goods similarly as Plastic. Earth consumes around 200 Million Tonnes of Plastic every Year resulting in Pollution and Climate Change. They have an advantage over conventional plastic as they are biodegradable, less carbon foot print, no additives, maintain the quality of the packaged material. But there are certain issues attached with the bioplastics:
- Higher cost: three times than the normal plastic
- Mainly made from Food Crops. So FOOD Vs FUEL debate.
- Most of these Bioplastics would require industrial composting facilities to be disposed of. But most cities lack an adequate number of such facilities; this means the bioplastics end up on the streets and harm the environment just like normal plastics would do.
- Most of the raw material is imported from China, Germany etc. Imposition of the import duties etc. naturally increases the cost of the plastics.