PBAT, or polybutylene adipate terephthalate, is a copolymer of polyesters (copolyester), which is currently 100 % fossil-based. It is considered a bioplastic because it is biodegradable in an industrial or home compost or in soil.
PBAT is a flexible material, ideal for film extrusion. It is therefore mainly found in the formulation of packaging such as plastic bags and sacks.
Advances in green chemistry mean that some of the monomers that make up PBAT (such as butanediol, for example) may soon be obtained from biomass and thus enable PBAT to be at least partially biobased in the long term.