USE OF BIOSYNTHETIC, BIODEGRADABLE THERMOPLASTICS AND ELASTOMERS FROMRENEWABLE RESOURCES - THE PROS AND CONS

For several reasons, biodegradable polymers have recently attracted mu ch public and industrial interest. This contribution focuses on microb ial aspects of the biodegradability of polymeric materials in the envi ronment. It provides an overview on biodegradability and the mechanism s of degradation of relevant natural and technical polymers. Almost al l biosynthetic polymers, which are readily available from renewable re sources, are biodegradable within a reasonable time scale. Many semibi osynthetic and even chemosynthetic polymers are also biodegradable if they contain chemical bonds which also occur in natural compounds. Onl y a few polymers are truly persistent. Arguments for and against the u se of such polymers are summarized.