TABLE OF CONTENTS The number of published LCA for bioplastics is very limited. This seems to be in contrast to the general public interest for this issue and the more recent interest by policy makers. For example, within the European Commission s European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) a subgroup to the Working Group Industry deals with Renewable Raw Materials (ECCP, 2001, pp.78-91). Since most biodegradable polymers are made from renewable raw materials, a substantial share of biodegradable polymers are covered. For example, no comprehensive LCA have been published so far for PLA (plant-based), cellulose polymers (plant-based) and some fossil fuel-based biodegradable polymers, such as BASF s product Ecoflex.
All of the biodegradable polymers covered by this review are manufactured from renewable resources. It is important to keep this in mind since some of the findings would probably differ for biodegradable polymers based on petrochemical polymers.
The existing LCA contain uncertainties which should be addressed by future research and analysis. A prominent example is the environmental assessment of the composting process for biodegradable polymers. In some studies further sensitivity analyses would be required to ensure that the final findings are well founded, e.g. for smaller PE bags in [23]. Moreover, many of the environmental analyses choose a cradle-to-factory-gate perspective, i.e., the analysis ends with the product under consideration. While this approach provides valuable results, additional analyses taking a cradle-to-grave perspective by inclusion of the waste management stage should also be carried out. Due to their strong impact on the final results several alternatives...
