Life cycle assessment of biodegradable plastics

Many industrial products made from fossil fuels cause the problems of global warming, depletion of fossil fuel resources and decrease of the land by landfill. In this report, the amounts of CO₂ emissions as the environmental load and the specific energy consumptions as the depletion of fossil fuel resources of biodegradable plastics and conventional plastic as food trays are compared using life cycle assessment methodology. The amount of CO₂ emission of PHB (poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate)) tray was the smallest among those of trays of other plastics. The specific energy consumption of SPCL (starch/polycaprolactone) was the smallest among those of trays of other plastics. It clearly reveals that the utilization of the biodegradable plastics is an effective way of alternatives of the conventional plastics.