This is an era of convenience wrapped in plastic. Our convenience, however, has come at a cost to our environment. The rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommended the replacement of petroleum-based plastic with biodegradable plastics in several sectors, such as food packaging and agricultural products. Packaging applications, responsible for a significant portion of litter, are now a hot topic for development using biodegradable plastics. However, the benefits of biodegradable polymers are less apparent for items like carrier bags and single-use packaging, which are not designed for open environmental disposal. The risk of mismanagement leads to a high likelihood of these products entering environments unsuitable for biodegradation, potentially exacerbating litter issues and confusing consumers about proper disposal practices.
Therefore, the European Commission recommended to only consider biodegradable polymers for specific applications where release in the open environment is intended or unavoidable, and recovery and reuse or recycling are not logistically and/or economically feasible.
