The Diffusion of Bioplastics: What Can We Learn from Poly(Lactic Acid)?

Abstract

Environmental and social impacts caused by petrochemical plastics are generating significant concerns on a global scale. Bioplastics can contribute to the transition to more sustainable materials, but they did not expand at the expected rates in the early 2000s. With recent predictions indicating that the bioplastic capacities will almost triple in the next five years, what are the conditions that may now be combined to justify and enable such an expansion? This paper uses the case of PLA and general insights into other bioplastics (stylized facts) to detail these conditions. The results show that many bioplastics remained unused during the 20th Century, with interest increasing when plastic pollution became flagrant in the 1980s. For PLA, many efforts have been made to solve the technical and market issues, including through intense cooperation among stakeholders. While environmental concerns have propelled bioplastics, the general absence of structured end-of-life alternatives (e.g., recycling and composting infrastructures) hinders their diffusion. Conversely, the expanding regulations related to plastic pollution are now the primary driver of the growth of bioplastics. Therefore, for bioplastics, and especially PLA, the conditions seem to be emerging for them to diffuse at the predicted rates, but structural limitations in the bioplastics value chain still compromise the large-scale substitution of petrochemicals. This trend indicates that establishing end-of-life alternatives for bioplastics could help to remove the bottleneck in their diffusion process.