bioplastic

thumb|Biodegradable plastic kitchen utensil|utensils thumb|Flower wrapping made of PLA-blend bio-flex Bioplastics are plastic materials produced from renewable biomass sources. In the context of bioeconomy and the circular economy, bioplastics remain topical. Conventional petro-based polymers are increasingly blended with bioplastics to manufacture "bio-attributed" or "mass-balanced" plastic products—so the difference between bio- and other plastics might be difficult to define.

Bioplastics can be produced by: processing directly from natural biopolymers including polysaccharides (e.g., corn starch or rice starch, cellulose, chitosan, and alginate) and proteins (e.g., soy protein, gluten, and gelatin), chemical synthesis from sugar derivatives (e.g., lactic acid) and lipids (such as vegetable fats and oils) from either plants or animals, fermentation of sugars or lipids, biotechnological production in microorganisms or genetically modified plants (e.g., polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)).