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Literature Review

Bioplastics are a kind of plastic that are formed from biodegradable materials and

renewable sources such as vegetable fats and oils. This kind of plastic is used to mitigate

the problem of the overabundance of plastic wastes that continue to contaminate the

environment. Plastic is the major threat of the environment (Needhidasan, 2014;

Derraik, 2002). It remains on the ground, generates heat, and proves to be detrimental to

the environment. The use of bioplastic serves as an alternative in the continuous use of

traditional plastics. Plastic bags were introduced in the 1970’s and ever since then it has

been commonly used everywhere (Riyad, Maher, & Al, 2014). It is assessed that around

500 billion plastic sacks are utilized each year around the world (Riyad, Maher, & Al,

2014; Gogte, 2009). They are harmful to wildlife and can take thousands of years to

decompose (Andrews, 2012). As a 'greener' solution, biodegradable plastics have been

manufactured from a variety of materials, including starch-based polymers (potato, corn,

wheat or tapioca starch), water-soluble polymers, polymers that degrade with light or

oxygen, or a blend of these (Reddy, Reddy, & Gupta 2013).

The market for Philippines plastics is expected to witness a CAGR of around 5%

during the forecast period of 2019-2024. Major factors driving the market include the

growing demand from various end-user industries and increasing government support

for foreign investment. However, factors like over reliance on imports of raw material

and finished plastics are likely to hinder the growth of the market studied. Although

most plastics are recyclable these days, their disposal becomes a problem due to the lack

of landfill area. A single-use packaging always ends up in a landfill, a situation which

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prompted the government to formulate 13 House Bills and Senate Bills on the regulation

and phasing out of plastic bags and other plastic packaging materials said. To our

knowledge, there are no producers of biodegradable thermoplastic polymer in the

Philippines. However, there is one local distributor of Polylactic Acid (PLA), a synthetic

biodegradable polymer, we have yet to assess in terms of its marketability, such as

customer acceptance and price competitiveness, and the quality of the material, because

those specifically made from starch are inferior in quality than synthetic plastics.

(Paglinwanan, 2018). Only 1 percent of the world’s plastic is bio-based but most of it is

“partially composed of fossil-based plastic, (Greenpeace, 2019).

Much attention has been focused on research to replace petroleum-based

commodity plastics, in a cost-effective manner, with biodegradable materials (Adhikari

et al., 2016). There are three types of bioplastics that decompose according to this

protocol. They are all made of starch, sometimes in combination with vegetable oil or

animal fat to substitute for the polymers made from petroleum. Starch is a natural

organic polymer manufactured by green plants through photosynthesis. It occurs in the

form of grains in many parts of the plant, principally in embryonic tissues such as seeds,

fruits, roots and its tuber. It works as an effective packaging material when modified to

form films that provide adequate mechanical properties of high percentage elongation,

tensile and flexural strength. It is modified by either plasticization, blending with other

materials, genetic or chemical modification or combinations of different approaches

(Demirgöz et al., 2000). These starch-based thermoplastic materials such as,

polyethylene-vinyl alcohol or polyvinyl alcohol, polycaprolactone have found wider

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industrial applications ranging from extrusion applications, injection molding, blow

molding, film blowing and foaming (Mensitieri et al., 2011; Müller, Laurindo, &

Yamashita, 2009).

The interest in utilizing starch as a replacement for plastics started in the 1970s and

intensified in the 1980s right along with the dramatic growth in the use of plastics

worldwide and the concerns about the effects of plastics on the environment. The early

studies on the use of starch in plastics were focused primarily on its beneficial effect as a

plastic additive rather than as an ingredient for improving biodegradation or renewable

content. The benefits of adding starch to polyurethane foam formulations were

investigated more than 50 years ago (Dosmann& Steel, 1961). Starch was included in a

mixture of an organic diisocyanate and a polyol resulting in flexible foam products with

improved mechanical properties (Dosmann& Steel, 1961).

Definition of Terms

The terms: biomass, bioplastic, biopolymer, cellulose, diisocyanate, petroleum,

plasticizer, polylactic acid, polyol and starch are all operationally mentioned in the

study.

 Biomass - organic matter used as a fuel, especially in a power station for the

generation of electricity

 Bioplastic - plastics with a primary raw material coming from a biomass

 Biopolymer - a polymeric substance occurring in living organisms, e.g. a protein,

cellulose, or DNA

 Cellulose - the main substance in the walls of plant cells, helping plants to
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remain stiff and upright.

 Diisocyanate - a family of chemical building blocks mainly used to make

polyurethane products, such as rigid and flexible foams, coatings, adhesives,

sealants and elastomers.

 Petroleum - a naturally occurring liquid found beneath the Earth's surface that

can be refined into fuel.

 Plasticizer - are additives that decrease the plasticity or decrease the viscosity of

a material.

 Polylactic Acid (PLA) - a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from

renewable resources, such as corn starch

 Polyol - an organic compound containing multiple hydroxyl groups.

 Starch - the most abundant biomolecule on earth after cellulose and the major

carbohydrate reserve in plant tubers and seed endosperm.