Sustainable Polymers: Opportunities for the Next Decade

Abstract

The field of sustainable polymers is growing and evolving at unprecedented rates. Researchers are increasingly concerned with the feedstock origins and the degradation behavior of, especially, large-scale commodity packaging plastics. A perspective is offered here for the design of sustainable polymers, specifically addressing opportunities for monomer development and polymer degradation. Key concepts include: water degradability instead of biodegradability; incorporation of novel main-chain functionality, such as acetals; utilization of lignin-based aromatics; and direct polymerization of biogenic C1 feedstocks.