Assessment of the Impacts of Bioplastics: Energy Usage, Fossil Fuel Usage, Pollution, Health Effects, Effects on the Food Supply, and Economic Effects Compared to Petroleum Based Plastics.

An analysis of societal issues involving bioplastics has been carried out. Health, economic, and environmental concerns related to a switch to bioplastics were studied. The possible impacts on energy usage, petroleum usage, and food production including land usage were observed. Bioplastics were found to be superior to petroplastics in terms of energy efficiency, petroleum consumption, and carbon emissions, but inferior to petroplastics in cost and applicability. Negative effects on the food supply were also predicted with a switch to bioplastics. Pollution and safety varied on a plastic-to-plastic basis but in general bioplastics were found to be safer. It has been concluded that bioplastics are not viable for wide scale use in their current form