Sustainable bioplastic products for building applications: recent trends and future opportunities – A systematic review

Abstract Technological developments in biomass thermochemical processing have sparked global efforts to replace fossil fuel‐based plastics with biobased polymers, with a particular focus on the building material market. The advantages of these bioplastics include reduced greenhouse gas emissions due to the long‐term storage of biogenic carbon captured through photosynthesis in durable building components (carbon sequestration) and decreased dependence on finite, nonrenewable resources. Some grades remain biodegradable for simpler end‐of‐life disposal. We review current applications in construction of major bioplastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and critically compare their environmental and economic performance against petroleum‐based counterparts using life cycle assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic analysis (TEA) from recent literature. Finally, we highlight advances in methodologies for quantifying the benefits of bioplastic integration and we identify research gaps to guide future work towards a renewable, low‐carbon built environment.