Development of Water Biodegradable PHA Films

Marine littering is one of the major ecological threats. The amount of plastic floating in oceans is increasing ; in some parts of oceans there are already 6 times more small plastic parts than plankton. Plastic floating in sea is great absorber of heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs and other toxins that accumulate in marine animals and consequently in humans. The most common sources of pollution are the ships (35 % to 85 %), i.e. people who throw various products into the sea, lost fishermen's nets, and waste from the rivers or brought by the wind. The need to reduce the quantities of plastics has led to the development of marine degradable materials, which after having been discarded into water (sea, lake, and river) degrade completely after a certain time. The paper analyzes the possibility of processing the marine degradable material using the injection moulding process, and the testing of mechanical properties has been performed.