The survey sees increasing prices for raw materials and a growing consciousness for the environmental impact of packaging waste as the driving forces behind this growth. Most packaging material today is made from plastics based on crude oil – recycling these plastics is a complicated process. Their dependence on oil as basic raw material couples the price for these plastics indirect with the crude oil price. Especially short-lived, single use packaging of foods and consumer goods (according to study about 12% of the total packaging amount) could well be made from bioplastics with the same hygienic qualities, especially from starch based or Polyactid acid plastics.<\/b><\/p>\n
Due to the competitive pressure on the plastics market, bioplastics still have difficulties competing with cheaper oil based plastics. The unstable political situation in several Middle East countries and a static grow of crude oil price from the relative stable prices in the mid-nineties could well make alternative resources for plastics more competitive. Some of the difficulties with cost-efficient production could nevertheless be overcome if bioplastics are produced as a mass product by the big players on the synthetics market. <\/p>\n