Abstract
Following the BBC’s Blue Planet II nature documentary series on marine ecosystems, plastic packaging has come under public fire, with consumers demanding greener alternatives. The biodegradable properties of some bioplastics have offered a potential solution to the global challenge of plastic pollution, while enabling the capture of food waste through anaerobic digestion as a circular and energy-positive waste treatment strategy. However, despite their increasing popularity, currently bioplastics are being tested in environments that do not reflect real-life waste management scenarios. Bioplastics find their most useful, meaningful and environmentally-sound application in food packaging—why is there so little interest in addressing their anaerobic co-digestion with food waste? Here, we provide a set of recommendations to ensure future studies on bioplastic end-of-life are fit for purpose. This perspective makes the link between the environmental sustainability of bioplastics and the role of food waste anaerobic digestion as we move towards an integrated food–energy–water–waste nexus. It shines light on a novel outlook in the field of bioplastic waste management while uncovering the complexity of a successful path forward. Ultimately, this research strives to ensure that the promotion of bioplastics within a circular economy framework is supported across waste collection and treatment stages.
Highlights
Though the focus is on a European context, the implications and recommendations we provide are relevant to wider circular economy and bioeconomy frameworks
In one study investigating the impact of conventional plastic contamination on food waste (FW) Anaerobic digestion (AD) performance, scanning electron microscopy results suggested that the reduction in methane yield was likely due to the interference between microorganisms and FW for effective biodegradation, and that the biological processes of AD were not affected by the plastics per se [47]
Bioplastics can contribute towards building a more sustainable future, but the precautionary principle should be applied to avoid the classic situation of burden shifting
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Bioplastics in class since partially biotion temperature These reviews focused on the process of in nature and synthesised by a range of microorganisms and most commonly occurring form of bio-based. 60a°C toand trigger degradation, due to its comparatively high transiin nature and synthesised by range of microorganisms and most commonly occurring form of PHA, consists ofcontested It requires anglass initial is the simplest biodegradation itself, rather than considering bioplastics within the existing organic waste based versions of Inon the near future, ject of dedicated reviews these focused the process of BBPs under anaerobic conditions has been the subg are bioplastics class transition, since partially biotion temperature in nature and synthesised by range ofPBS microorganisms. Though the focus is on a European context, the implications and recommendations we provide are relevant to wider circular economy and bioeconomy frameworks
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