Why haven’t bioplastics captured a larger market share?

Market expectations for bioplastic usage were initially hyped as this wonderful technology that would replace traditional plastics in all applications.  Some predictions say they will replace 20% of all plastics. Who were the proponents of these lofty predictions kidding?  They certainly were not uttered by people with knowledge of market development realities or experience in the plastic industry.  So why haven’t bioplastics captured a larger market share than their reported 1-2% of total plastic usage?  There are four reasons: 

1. Performance is not matched to brand owner or consumer expectations;
2. Time-line to market acceptance not realistic;
3. Bioplastic companies marketing efforts not given enough field support and
4. Difficulties selling to an uninformed customer base and an uninformed end-user base. 

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