Bio-based and biodegradable plastic in the UK

A new market perspective report highlights opportunities for the UK to take a leading role in bio-based technology innovation.

The bioeconomy consultants, NNFCC, have recently published a report which discusses the potential for bio-based and biodegradable plastic development in the UK.

The summary of the report says:

“A paradigm shift from oil based durable plastic to plastics produced from renewable materials and designed to be recyclable or biodegradable, offers the potential to address the issues with plastics while retaining its many benefits.

“Bio-based plastics, produced partly or wholly from renewable raw materials e.g. plants, provides an opportunity to move away from oil-based materials. Furthermore, biotechnology can be the basis for clean manufacturing processes and used to produce new materials with properties superior to current plastics.

“Plastic production is a strong and productive UK industry. It is the UK‚Äôs third largest manufacturing sector in terms of employment, has a turnover of ¬£25.5bn per year and exports products and materials worth over ¬£8bn each year.

“The UK is renowned for its academic excellence and the recent investments made in bioscience and building a biotechnology and synthetic biology research community means the UK is well poised to take a leading role in bio-based technology innovation.‚Äã”

The report ends with a call to action, highlighting the significant role that bio-based and biodegradable plastics can play in addressing the challenges of plastic pollution on land and sea, and climate change.

You can download a free copy of Market Perspective: Bio-based and Biodegradable Plastic in the UK from the NNFCC website here.