An Overview of Bioplastic Research on Its Relation to National Policies

Abstract

There is an increasing concern about fossil energy and products derived from it. The plastic industry depends on oil, and produced plastics cannot degrade naturally. An alternative to plastics from oil is the use of bioplastics, which can be degradable. The bibliometric study of the publications related to bioplastics carried out in this paper shows that research on this topic is growing both in developed (USA, European Union, and Canada) and in developing countries (China, India, Thailand, and Malaysia), mostly following the implementation of bioeconomy standards and labels by their governments. The main authors and the collaborations they have worldwide are also presented here. The research carried out in this paper is not only devoted to technological aspects but also to economic aspects and inhabitant ratios. Trends in publications, by country and authors, are analyzed. Finally, this paper also studies the countries governmental policies and how they impact the bioplastic field.

The Emergence of Bioplastic as a Sustainable Polymer in the Indian Food Packaging Industry: A Scientometric Analysis

“…These are: Biobased and Non-biodegradable Bioplastics, Biobased and Biodegradable Bioplastics and Non-biobased and Biodegradable Bioplastic (Table.1). Recently, polymers have been synthesized fully or partially from biomass to produce bioplastics which are non-biodegradable such as Bio-PE (Bio-polyethylene), Bio-PET (bio-polyethene terephthalate), Bio-PTT (bio-polytrimethylene terephthalate) and Bio-PP (Bio-polypropylene) (Garrido et al, 2021;Moshood et al, 2022).…”

“…Biobased and Biodegradable Bioplastics are biodegradable and obtained from biomass resources. They are categorized (Garrido et al, 2021;Moshood et al, 2022).…”

“…Studies using bibliometric analysis for bioplastic research around the world are quite negligible. Garrido et al, (2021) used the bibliometric analysis in the context of national policies worldwide and focused on trends in publications by country, authors and collaboration networks. Rana et al, (2022) elaborated on key publications or scientific productions, the most productive researchers in terms of publications and citations, latest hotspots (keywords), the countries with the most active research, collaborations between the countries, highly cited journals, highly contributing organizations, and co-cited references with their cluster analysis of bioplastic research.…”

Towards a Circular Economy of Plastics: An Evaluation of the Systematic Transition to a New Generation of Bioplastics

“…Bioplastics are generally reported in three categories ( Figure 5 ): (i) fossil-resource-derived but biodegradable, (ii) partially biobased or biobased and non-biodegradable, and (iii) biobased and biodegradable [ 118 , 119 ].…”

Management of disposable surgical masks for tackling pandemic-generated pollution: Thermo-acoustic investigations and life cycle assessment of novel recycled building panels

“…Nowadays, environmental protection is an important issue as the products used often become waste, causing problems to the ecosystem ( Fuller and Ottman, 2004 ; Awomeso, 2010 ; Kaliyavaradhan et al., 2022 ; Rosso et al., 2014 ). In addition to this, some industrial processes also release waste or by-products that pollute the environment but, with the appropriate treatments, can be turned into a new resource ( Sam et al., 2021 ; Maghool et al., 2017 ; Garrido et al., 2021 ). In this area, the reuse and recycling of system components ( Thomassen et al., 2022 ; Gasia et al., 2021 ) and materials ( Barros et al., 2017 ; Fabiani et al., 2020 ; Bianchi et al., 2021 ; Asdrubali et al., 2016 ) is one of the main concepts for green and sustainable construction.…”