Plastic materials are used to manufacture a broad variety of items with a short useful lifespan, resulting in significant amounts of waste material generation. This form of waste is often observed floating at sea, and different microplastics have been discovered in fish stomachs and women's placentas. Bioplastics are a more biodegradable substitute for fossil-based polymers. Microalgae are capable of producing poly (hydroxy alkanoate) esters (PHAs), aliphatic polyesters that are biodegradable. The most prevalent and well-characterized biopolymer is the poly (3-hydroxy butyrate) ester (PHB), which belongs to the short-chain PHAs. Under aerobic conditions, PHB compounds degrade fully to carbon dioxide and water. They are ecologically neutral, having thermal and mechanical qualities comparable to those of petrochemical polymers. Numerous microalgae species have been reported in the literature to be capable of making bioplastics under certain conditions (N-P restriction, light exposure, etc.), which may be exploited as a source of energy and carbon. To further ameliorate the environmental impact of microalgae culture for bioplastics production, a limited number of published studies have examined the accumulation of bioplastics, from microalgae grown in wastewater, at a concentration of 5.5–65% of dry biomass weight.

塑料材料用于制造各种使用寿命短的物品，导致产生大量废料。经常观察到这种形式的废物漂浮在海上，并且在鱼胃和女性胎盘中发现了不同的微塑料。生物塑料是化石聚合物的更可生物降解的替代品。微藻能够生产聚（羟基链烷酸酯）酯（PHA），即可生物降解的脂肪族聚酯。最普遍且特征最充分的生物聚合物是聚（3-羟基丁酸酯）酯（PHB），它属于短链 PHA。在有氧条件下，PHB 化合物完全降解为二氧化碳和水。它们在生态上是中性的，具有可与石化聚合物相媲美的热和机械特性。文献中报道了许多微藻物种能够在某些条件下（NP 限制、光照等）制造生物塑料，这可以用作能源和碳的来源。为了进一步改善微藻培养对生物塑料生产的环境影响，有限数量的已发表研究已经检测了来自废水中生长的微藻的生物塑料的积累，其浓度为干生物质重量的 5.5-65%。