TABLE OF CONTENTS In total, thirteen publications were reviewed six of which deal with starch polymers, four with PHA, two with PLA and one with other biodegradable polymers. The dominance and the size of the studies analysing starch polymers reflect the current economic importance of this type of material among the biodegradable polymers. Appendix 13.1 provides an overview of the reviewed publications. They were all prepared by Swiss or German organisations and several of them are available in German only.
Regarding the choice of the functional unit, some of the studies only analyse the production and waste management of materials in the form of pellets without referring to a specific application of use while other studies refer to a certain type of end use. The first type of study has the advantage that it provides a first impression about the opportunities of clean production. For example, if the environmental performance is not attractive at the material level, there is a good chance that this will also be true at the product level. On the other hand studies that exclusively analyse the material level have the disadvantage of not taking decisive parameters at the end use level into account, for example:
materials processing, where the amount of material required to manufacture a certain end product might be higher or lower than for petrochemical polymers.
transportation, which can be substantial for end products with a low density such as loose fill packaging material.
the use phase, where...
