Bioplastics: Development, Possibilities and Difficulties

Abstract

New possible ways of plastics manufacture and waste treatment are being searched when trying to tackle the problems related to the growth of waste quantities and decline in non-renewable resources. Presently, the most promising and effective way to solve the mentioned problems is production of bioplastics, but its way to recognition is very slow. One of the barriers is the absence of clear and united opinion throughout the EU Arising new discussions about biodegradable and biobased plastics will allow responsible authorities to update and adapt the legal law, which now almost does not include any reglement on bioplastics production and usage. The other issues of bioplastics are social aspects as this material can be made of primal food sources like crops, and the ecological ones because of their unknown effects on human health and the environment. Nevertheless, the main problem remains the same -the price of petro-plastics is still lower than that of bioplastics. Despite this, the biggest companies of the world are starting an initiative to manufacture this new kind of plastics and to widen the range of bioplastics usage in packaging. Considering today's situation and tendencies, at the end of this paper the recommendations for the improvement and speeding up of the processes related to bioplastics manufacture, usage and its waste management in Europe and Lithuania are presented.

Bioplastics: Innovation for Green Transition

“…Cereplast is a producer of TPS that collects starch from tapioca, corn, wheat and potatoes. Out of 1 t of potatoes, they are capable of gathering 0.18 t of starch, which produces 0.24 t of TPS when adding 0.06 t of plasticizer, a process summarized in Figure 4 [ 12 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

“…This polymer is a biodegradable polysaccharide made from wood pulp or cotton linters. Cellophane film starts by dissolving the raw material in a mixture of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide and recast the obtained product into an acid solution (sulfuric acid) [ 12 , 32 ].…”

“…The Consortium was able to produce 35,000 t per year of PHA from 500,000 yearly t of animal waste on an industrial level, as represented in Figure 5 . The introduction of this process in the bioplastic production industry would mean that some of the solvents used in the production of bioplastics would be eliminated, and the slaughterhouse waste could be useful to produce added-value products, while nowadays, this waste material is simply burned [ 8 , 32 , 33 , 38 ].…”

“…Lactide is a cyclic dimer formed by removing water under mild conditions and without solvent. As shown in Figure 6 , it is possible to produce 0.42 tons of PLA from 1 ton of corn using processes such as hydrolysis, fermentation, dehydration and polymerization [ 32 , 33 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”

Life Cycle Assessment of Sugar Palm Fiber Reinforced-Sago Biopolymer Composite Takeout Food Container

“…Inefficient waste management has caused massive plastic debris discarded in terrestrial and in aquatic environments [3]. Plastic manufacturing demands for huge petroleum resources and emits hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other harmful gases into the atmosphere [4]. Henceforth, innovative product design shall consider sustainable, biodegradable, and biobased raw materials, and biobased products and biopolymer materials have demonstrated encouraging results in terms of environmental burdens [5].…”