TPS thermoplastic starch

TPS thermoplastic starch is the most important and widely used bioplastic. It is used in making capsule casings for pharmaceutical drugs. A common TPS is PSM plastarch material from corn; it biodegrades well in compost, wet soil, and water.

TPS is generally made into biodegradable bioplastic films, which are converted into shopping bags, bread bags, bait bags, over wrap, 'flushable' sanitary product backing material, and mulch film. They are also used for foamed starch loose fill packaging and injected moulded take-away containers (usually with the addition of glycerol as plasticizer and polyvinyl alcohol).

TPS blended with either PCL polycaprolactone or PVA polyvinyl alcohol yields such commercial bioplastics Mater-Bi (from Novamont, Italy) and Bioflex (from BioTech, Germany). Mater-Bi was used for biodegradable catering items and garbage bags during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

More information at European Plastic Films and on Wikipedia.