Plant-derived feedstocks are increasingly competitive in plastics production Polymers protect us from the elements, increase the fuel efficiency of cars, protect food from pathogens, help cure disease, and enable renewable-energy technologies. To promote, foster, and enable a sustainable society, we need polymers. Yet polymers can also create serious environmental challenges. Nearly all plastic packaging produced—more than 80 billion kg annually—originates from fossil resources and is disposed of after a relatively short period of use (1, 2). An increasing fraction of plastic is recycled or incinerated to recover energy, but most ends up in landfills, littering cities or landscapes, and in the oceans (3). New recycling concepts (4), clean incineration, and the development of polymers that can rapidly degrade (5) will be key to addressing these problems. Shifting from petrochemical feedstocks to renewable resources—making plastics from plants—can also rectify some environmental challenges associated with petrochemical extraction and render plastics production sustainable (see the figure).

中文翻译：

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植物塑料的承诺

植物来源的原料在塑料生产中的竞争力越来越强 聚合物保护我们免受各种元素的影响，提高汽车的燃油效率，保护食物免受病原体侵害，帮助治愈疾病，并启用可再生能源技术。为了促进、培育和实现可持续发展的社会，我们需要聚合物。然而，聚合物也会带来严重的环境挑战。几乎所有生产的塑料包装（每年超过 800 亿公斤）都来自化石资源，并在相对较短的使用期后被丢弃 (1, 2)。越来越多的塑料被回收或焚烧以回收能源，但大多数最终会进入垃圾填埋场、乱扔垃圾的城市或景观以及海洋 (3)。新的回收概念（4），清洁焚烧，开发可快速降解的聚合物 (5) 将是解决这些问题的关键。从石化原料转向可再生资源——用植物制造塑料——也可以解决一些与石化提取相关的环境挑战，并使塑料生产可持续（见图）。