Bioplastics made from plants

Bioplastics produced from genetically modified plants could help reduce the burden placed on the environment by conventional plastics. Much in the same way as animals use fat as an energy store, certain bacteria use substances similar to plastics. These can be isolated and processed into bioplastic. In contrast to plastics conventionally manufactured from mineral oil, bioplastics are produced from renewable resources such as vegetable fats, oils, or carbohydrates. They are completely biodegradable and can be used as a source of nutrients by a lot of naturally occuring microorganisms.

Photo: green-water.org

Bioplastic is still relatively expensive however, since the yield is very small. Genetically modified bacteria or plants may in future be used for industrial-scale production. Bioplastics could contribute in medicine; particularly in surgery where body-compatible implants are called for, or in the packaging-materials industry. The use of compostible shampoo bottles, beverage cartons, baby diapers, and other packaging materials could constitute an enormous reduction in the environmental burden imposed by conventional plastics.

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New model that come with Bioplastic body that really best product for today, which many junk electronic in the world. I think This first bioplastic mobile phone by Samsung is the admirable product.

Samsung Unveils Environment-Friendly Mobile Phones
By samsung.com

W510 is Samsung’s first mobile phone with ‘bio-plastic’ made from natural material extracted from corns. Samsung has been making an effort to develop more renewable and eco-friendly material compared with common plastic produced from petroleum.

Moreover, when producing W510, Samsung did not use any heavy metals, such as Lead, Mercury, and Cadmium, and applied water-soluble coating.  Samsung F268 with all the accessories including charger and headset does not contain BFRs or PVC.

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The terminology used in the bioplastics sector is sometimes misleading. Most in the industry use the term bioplastic to mean a plastic produced from a biological source. One of the oldest plastics, cellulose film, is made from wood cellulose. All bio- and petroleum-based plastics are technically biodegradable, meaning they can be degraded by microbes under suitable conditions. However many degrade at such slow rates as to be considered non-biodegradable.

Photo: ferret.com.au

Some petrochemical-based plastics are considered biodegradable, and may be used as an additive to improve the performance of many commercial bioplastics. Non-biodegradable bioplastics are referred to as durable. The degree of biodegradation varies with temperature, polymer stability, and available oxygen content. Consequently, most bioplastics will only degrade in the tightly controlled conditions of commercial composting units. An internationally agreed standard, EN13432, defines how quickly and to what extent a plastic must be degraded under commercial composting conditions for it to be called biodegradable. This is published by the International Organisation for Standardization ISO and is recognised in many countries, including all of Europe, Japan and the US. However, it is designed only for the aggressive conditions of commercial composting units. There is no standard applicable to home composting conditions.

The term “biodegradable plastic” is often also used by producers of specially modified petrochemical-based plastics which appear to biodegrade.[citation needed] Traditional plastics such as polyethylene are degraded by ultra-violet (UV) light and oxygen. To prevent this process manufacturers add stabilising chemicals. However with the addition of a degradation initiator to the plastic, it is possible to achieve a controlled UV/oxidation disintegration process. This type of plastic may be referred to as degradable plastic or oxy-degradable plastic or photodegradable plastic because the process is not initiated by microbial action. While some degradable plastics manufacturers argue that degraded plastic residue will be attacked by microbes, these degradable materials do not meet the requirements of the EN13432 commercial composting standard.

from: wikipedia.org