Replacement of Single Use Plastic with Biodegradable Materials Reviewed

A June 29, 2022, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety article https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12986 by researchers with Italy University of Salerno report that “… Plastic pollution and food waste are two global issues with much in common. Plastic containers were introduced as a practical and easy remedy to improve food preservation and reduce the risk of creating waste … The spread of single-use containers has dramatically increased the amount of plastic that has to be discarded … An innovative way around it consists of promoting the valorization of food residues by turning them into novel materials for packaging. Although the results are promising, the aim of completely replacing plastics with biodegradable materials still seems far from being achieved. This review illustrates the main strategies adopted thus far to produce new bioplastic materials and composites from waste resources and focuses on the pros and cons of the food recovery process to look for the aspects that represent an obstacle to the development of the circular food economy on an industrial scale …” #SingleUsePlastic #FoodPackaging #PlasticWaste @UniSalerno