ACR+

By Simon Hann, Rosy Scholes, Tessa Lee, Sarah Ettlinger, Henning Jørgensen.

Executive summary

There is currently considerable interest in bioplastics from consumers and industry and business, but there is still great uncertainty about the subject and several misconceptions exist. With the National Plastic Action Plan developed by the former Danish Government in Decem-ber 2018 and the subsequent political agreement of 30th January 2019, Denmark has a consolidated plan of action for plastics. The plan focuses on less plastic in nature, smarter production and consumption, more cooperation in the value chain, better waste management, a stronger scientific evidence base and increased recycling—plan initiative no. 23 requires the building up of knowledge around the advantages and disadvantages of bio-based plastics. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) on the basis of the above need to build knowledge of biobased and biodegradable plastics as an alternative to conventional plastics based on fossil resources, including supply and market mapping and possible waste management scenarios. The following report is the result of research conducted to address this requirement.