Market research consulting firm IHS Markit research shows that at present, the use of plastic bags and single-use plastic products around the world regulations and restrictive measures can be said to increase with the time, and people's environmental awareness is gradually awakening, and China's plastic ban order is like the wings of a butterfly, gently inciting, affecting many countries. From the side also promoted the growth of demand for degradable plastics. According to the statistics, Western Europe is the largest market for degradable plastics, also because the region has the most stringent restrictions on the use of plastic shopping bags.

According to the company's report, the current market value of biodegradable plastics could reach $1.1 billion in 2018 and $1.7 billion by 2023. As for volume, demand for biodegradable polymer materials could reach 360,000 tons this year and is expected to rise to 550,000 tons by 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 9 percent over five years.

Degradable or decomposing polymer materials can be bio-based or fossil fuel-based polymer materials, which are decomposed by microorganisms into carbon dioxide and water through industrial or municipal decomposition facilities. Most of these materials are starchy or PLa-based materials. The largest end uses and growth drivers for biodegradable plastics are food packaging, disposable tableware and packaging bags.

According to a report by HIS Markit, Western Europe has the most stringent and increasingly stringent restrictions on the use of single-use plastic products, and its market value for specialty polymer materials accounted for 55% of the global value in 2018. It was followed by Asia and Oceania with 25 percent. Then North America with 19 per cent and the rest of the world with just 1 per cent.

Demand growth is partly due to the increasing cost competitiveness of biodegradable materials compared to petroleum-based plastics. This point was highlighted by Marifaith Hackett, researcher and director of specialty chemistry at IHS Markit and lead author of the report, who believes that the characteristics and processability of biodegradable polymer materials have improved significantly in recent years, and legislation is the most important factor driving their demand growth. She said: "The" Restrictions on the use of non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags in Italy and France have led to increasing consumption of biodegradable polymer materials in these countries, and we expect European countries to continue to move towards legislation restricting the use of plastic shopping bags. "

But there is still relatively little demand for biodegradable materials compared to conventional plastics. According to data provided by IHS Markit, global demand for PE, the most widely used plastic, has almost doubled in the past 20 years, and the report expects global PE demand to exceed 100 million tons in 2018.

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