Matter
Volume 6, Issue 1, 4 January 2023, Pages 97-127
Journal home page for Matter

Review
Sustainable bioplastics derived from renewable natural resources for food packaging

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2022.11.006Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Progress and potential

Petrochemical plastics bring tremendous convenience to daily life and are widely used in packaging, containers, furniture, electronics, etc. However, most plastics need hundreds of years to degrade because of their stable polymer chains. A third of plastics ends up as marine or terrestrial pollution. Plastic pollution has a highly negative influence on the marine environment and the food chain. Therefore, a demand for bioplastics to replace petrochemical plastics is emerging, especially in the one-time-use food packaging industry. Bioplastics take less time to degrade, save energy during manufacturing, and reduce waste. The main challenges of bioplastics encountered by manufacturers and consumers are adaptability to the existing manufacturing line, performance, and cost.

In this review, a rational design of bioplastics from natural resources for food packaging is evaluated. Management of bioplastic waste regarding degradation and recycling is discussed. Adding plasticizers is an effective approach to improving the mechanical performance of bioplastics. Bioplastic can be an alternative to conventional plastic in most applications of food packaging, with less of a carbon footprint and environmental impact. Recycling should be promoted because it can significantly improve the sustainability of bioplastics. The capability of bioplastics to be recycled varies, and appropriate technologies should be selected based on the nature of biopolymers.

Summary

Food packaging is one of the leading sectors for the end use of plastics. Bioplastic is produced from natural renewable resources such as crops, wood pulp, and herbaceous fibers. This article summarizes the rational design of bioplastics from natural resources for food packaging. The bioplastic properties considered include thermal properties, mechanical performance, oxygen/moisture resistance, and biodegradability. Bioplastic degradability and technologies for handling bioplastic waste are discussed. Various aspects of the sustainability of bioplastics (e.g., environmental profile, techno-economic analysis, and societal impact) are investigated. The main challenges of bioplastic application, such as low fracture strain and inferior barrier properties, are discussed. Mitigation approaches to overcome the mechanical properties of bioplastics, such as adding plasticizers, are also discussed. Bioplastic can have properties comparable with fossil-based plastics. Bioplastic can be an alternative to conventional plastic in most applications of food packaging, which can reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact because of its biodegradability.

Keywords

bioplastic
natural resource
food packaging
waste recycling
sustainability
biodegradability

Cited by (0)

10

These authors contributed equally