Conventional petrochemical plastics have become a serious environmental problem. Its unbridled use, especially in non-durable goods, has generated an accumulation of waste that is difficult to measure, threatening aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The replacement of these plastics with cleaner alternatives, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), can only be achieved by cost reductions in the production of microbial bioplastics, in order to compete with the very low costs of fossil fuel plastics. The biggest costs are carbon sources and nutrients, which can be appeased with the use of photosynthetic organisms, such as cyanobacteria, that have a minimum requirement for nutrients, and also using agro-industrial waste, such as the livestock industry, which in turn benefits from the by-products of PHA biotechnological production, for example pigments and nutrients. Circular economy can help solve the current problems in the search for a sustainable production of bioplastic: reducing production costs, reusing waste, mitigating CO2, promoting bioremediation and making better use of cyanobacteria metabolites in different industries.

中文翻译：

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蓝细菌聚羟基链烷酸酯：循环经济中的可持续替代品

传统的石化塑料已成为严重的环境问题。它的肆意使用，特别是在非耐用品中，产生了难以衡量的废物积累，威胁着水生和陆地生态系统。用更清洁的替代品替代这些塑料，例如聚羟基链烷酸酯 (PHA)，只能通过降低微生物生物塑料生产的成本来实现，以便与成本极低的化石燃料塑料竞争。最大的成本是碳源和养分，这可以通过使用光合生物（例如对养分要求最低的蓝藻）以及农业工业废物（例如畜牧业）来满足，这反过来又会带来好处来自PHA生物技术生产的副产品，例如色素和营养素。循环经济可以帮助解决目前寻找生物塑料可持续生产的问题：降低生产成本、重复利用废物、减少二氧化碳排放、促进生物修复以及在不同行业更好地利用蓝藻代谢物。