Identy three advantages and three disadvantages of bioplastics

Explanation:

Advantages of bioplastics

1.Less oil is used to produce petrochemical (oil-based) plastics which pose a great risk to the environment.

2.The common bioplastics can be injection molded and shaped to take the same form as traditional thermoplastics. In some cases, the bioplastics are stronger and lighter, too, so they are not necessarily only suitable for very niche applications.

3.Bioplastics are more marketable, for example, their usage may improve the value-add of a product through a green marketing campaign. After all, studies have shown that ‘80% of European customers want to buy products with a minimal impact on the environment,’ so bioplastics may represent a useful argument for brands.

Disadvantages of bioplastics

1.First, bioplastics are generally NOT cost-competitive compared to their oil-based counterparts. They are generally two or three times more expensive than the major conventional plastics such as PE or PET, and their production is plagued by low yields and being expensive. This disadvantage should be less acute when manufacturing plants become larger and benefit from economies of scale. A good example is Braskem’s 200,000-tonne bio polyethylene plant (equivalent to about 20% of the world’s current bioplastics production).

2.There is a concern that bioplastics based on terrestrial crops could harm food supplies; however, new innovations using food waste could be helpful in this regard and the concerns would seem to be unfounded as: ‘Perhaps 300,000 hectares are used to grow the crops which the industry processes into plastics. For comparison, this is about 0.02% of the world’s total naturally irrigated area available for cultivation. Even if half the world’s plastics were made from crops grown on food land, the industry would only require 3% of the world’s cultivated acreage.’

3.Crop-based bioplastics require fertile land, water, fertilizers, and are reliant on weather conditions. This means that the supply of raw materials for bioplastics are at risk of natural phenomena, such as drought.

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