Abstract
Meeting the challenge of circularity for plastics requires amenability to repurposing post-use, as equivalent or upcycled products. In a compelling advancement, complete circularity for a biodegradable polyvinyl alcohol/thermoplastic starch (PVA/TPS) food packaging film was demonstrated by bioconversion to high-market-value biopigments and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) polyesters. The PVA/TPS film mechanical properties (tensile strength (σu), 22.2 ± 4.3 MPa; strain at break (εu), 325 ± 73%; and Young’s modulus (E), 53–250 MPa) compared closely with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) grades used for food packaging. Strong solubility of the PVA/TPS film in water was a pertinent feature, facilitating suitability as a carbon source for bioprocessing and microbial degradation. Biodegradability of the film with greater than 50% weight loss occurred within 30 days of incubation at 37 °C in a model compost. Up to 22% of the PVA/TPS film substrate conversion to biomass was achieved using three bacterial strains, Ralstonia eutropha H16 (Cupriavidus necator ATCC 17699), Streptomyces sp. JS520, and Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633. For the first time, production of the valuable biopigment (undecylprodigiosin) by Streptomyces sp. JS520 of 5.3 mg/mL and the production of PHB biopolymer at 7.8% of cell dry weight by Ralstonia eutropha H16 from this substrate were reported. This low-energy, low-carbon post-use PVA/TPS film upcycling model approach to plastic circularity demonstrates marked progress in the quest for sustainable and circular plastic solutions.
Highlights
Upcyclable products meet the conditions required for circularity by being indefinitely recyclable, without reduction in value or usability
Thermal properties of the polyvinyl alcohol/thermoplastic starch (PVA/Thermoplastic starch (TPS)) film material are presented in Figure 1, where
[43], the heat melt, data from the literature for films prepared from PVA/TPS [43], while the heat melt, ∆Hm
Summary
Upcyclable products meet the conditions required for circularity by being indefinitely recyclable, without reduction in value or usability. The cyclical repurposing of plastic resources, as opposed to contributing to recalcitrant waste stockpiles, is essential to achieving a sustainable socio-economic ecosystem. Progressing plastics circularity requires minimizing polluting factors and resource loss while facilitating continuous material repurposing. Examples of the biodegradation and bioregeneration of processes for natural polymers and end-of-life bio-based materials abound. Active developments are ongoing to overcome biodegradable plastics performance shortcomings such as brittleness, gas-barrier properties, and processability [1,2]. In addressing the considerable challenge of circularity, it is vital that post-use regeneration routes for these new plastics are identified to secure resource and value continuity throughout the repurposing/revalorization process [3,4]
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