Microplastic persistence and environmental impact of biodegradable vs. non-degradable polymers

Poster presentation at the the Renewable Materials Conference, Siegburg, 11-13 June 2024

Microplastic persistence and environmental impact of biodegradable vs. non-degradable polymers

A conceptual model uniting material categories, environmental fate, processes and impact with lifetimes of different plastic polymers

This graphical concept forms the basis for a general understanding of the processes involved in the fate of non-degradable plastic polymers and their biodegradable potential substitutes in the environment. It serves as a starting point for the assessment of further material qualities, final products and environmental conditions and is intended to make different scenarios quantifiable and thus numerically comparable. For the processes described here, we only consider the fate and behavior of neat polymers.