Compostable Bag from Unicoop © Novamont

Properties

Bioplastics are a family of materials. Properties can vary considerably from material to material.

Biobased or partly biobased durable plastics, so called “drop-in bioplastics” such as biobased or partly biobased PE, PET or PVC, possess identical properties as their conventional versions. These bioplastics cannot be distinguished from conventional commodity plastics other than by scientific analyses.

New polymer types such as starch-based plastics or PHA are biodegradable. This feature is directly linked to the chemical structure of the polymer. As for the differing chemical structure these materials can possess technical properties which distinguish them for certain parameters. Simultaneously to the growing variety of bioplastic materials also properties like printability, transparency, barrier, and gloss have been optimized significantly.