Biodegradation is the chemical breakdown of materials by a physiological environment. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management and environmental remediation (bioremediation). Organic material can be degraded aerobically with oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen. A term related to biodegradation is biomineralisation, in which organic matter is converted into minerals. Biosurfactant, an extracellular surfactant secreted by microorganisms, enhances the biodegradation process. Biodegradable material does good to the environment.

  Biodegradable plastics . There are two main types of biodegradable plastics in the market: hydro-biodegradable plastics (HBP) and oxo-biodegradable plastics (OBP). Both will first undergo chemical degradation by oxidation and hydrolysis for oxo- and hyddro-biodegradable plastics respectively. This results in their physical disintegration and a drastic reduction in their molecular weights. These smaller, lower molecular weight fragments are then amenable to biodegradation.

HBP tend to degrade and biodegrade somewhat more quickly than OBP, but the end result is the same - both are converted to carbon dioxide (CO₂), water (H₂O) and biomass. OBP are generally less expensive, possess better physical properties and are easier to process on current plastics processing equipment than HBP.

Polyesters play a predominant role as hydro-bioegradable plastics due to their potentially dydrolysable ester bonds. HBP can be made from renewable resources such as corn, wheat, sugar can, or non-renewable resources (petroleum-based), or blend of these two. Some of the commonly used polymers include PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), PHBV (polyhydroxybutyrate-valerate), PLA (polylactic acid), PCL (polycaprolactone), PVA (polyvinyl aclcohol), PET (polyehtylene terephthalate) etc.