Bioplastics is one of those areas that the home inventor has the advantage. The raw materials are cheap, readily available and easy to work with. There has been relatively little study done so far as the field is still quite new and there are a significant amount of discoveries to be made.
What you have to realise here is that you are not attempting to synthesise polymers from monomers or synthesis new monomers. What you are trying to do is source and extract existing polymers from biological sources and turn those into useful products and usable plastics. The aim of this book is to give you a methodology for exploring bioplastics and creating your own. There are a LOT of recipes included. Mostly these are meant as a starting point and as a way of seeing the methodology in action. Biological polymers can be found in an enormous range of potential sources. Really the book is meant to encourage experimentation and all I really have to say is get out there and try.
Sources of biological polymers would include fungi, molds, bacteria, seaweeds, plants, sugars, starches, crabs, lobsters, etc, etc - and these are only the ones being currently investigated. Though I mention in passing, so to speak, those polymers where the monomer is derived from biological sources, the main thrust of the book is in utilising those polymers that already exist.
