Investigation into Polymer Biodegradation

All such standards have been based upon common evaluation schemes and principles 

Needless to say, a wide variety of composting plants and cycles, home composting procedures and environments exist. Hence, it has been necessary to establish and fix some parameters (temperature, substrate, pH, microbial population, moisture and so on), in order to obtain reproducible standard laboratory conditions which verify the ability and the potential of different materials to undergo safe biodegradation in the environment where they are allocated for treatment. 

---

In order to decrease human consumption of petroleum, chemists have investigated methods for producing polymers from renewable resources such as biomass. Nature Works polylactic acid (PLA) is a polymer of naturally occurring lactic acid (LA), and LA can be produced from the fermentation of corn. The goal is to eventually manufacture this polymer from waste biomass. Another advantage of PLA is that, unlike most synthetic polymers which litter the landscape and pack landfills, it is biodegradable. PLA can also be easily recycled by conversion back into LA. It can replace many petroleum-based polymers in products such as carpets, bags, cups, and textile fibers. 

---