Agricultural mulch, designed to safeguard crops, is specifically meant for use in open environments where loss during normal usage is deemed inevitable. The open environment being the intended (end of life) EoL scenario makes it an ideal application for biodegradable plastics.
Current agricultural mulches are made of PE and PP, which represent a source of macro- and microplastic contamination and with significant environmental impacts, and present challenges in waste management due to the difficulty of recycling contaminated materials, leading to economic implications. The development of biodegradable agricultural mulch (BDM) has been a recent focus, such as BioAgri manufactured by BioBag with PBAT/starch blends, Organix manufactured by Organix Solutions with PLA/PBAT blends, Naturecycle manufactured by Custom Bioplastics with polyesters with starch blends.
The BDM market is currently valued at 15 000 M€ in 2022, and is estimated to reach 23 000M€ by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2030.However, there is a current concern that BDM may not decompose in the proposed time frame, as itthey requires specific industrial composting conditions to degrade, including specific temperature, moisture level, and the presence of certain microorganisms. Without these specific conditions, BDM takes many years to fully degrade in the soil21. As a result, plastic pollution persists even with BDM.
MAGICBIOMAT aims to develop BDM with tailored biodegradability by compounding biodegradable polymers with biodegradable and enzymatic additives that attract the promote local microbes and enzymatic additives, with a targeted degradation rate of and aim to degrade 30% within 6 months, 60% within 12 months, and 90% by the 24-month mark, aligning with the growth cycle of various vegetables and annual crops within a single season.
