From waste to sustainable bioplastics: advancing circular bioeconomy and environmental sustainability

The increasing accumulation of petroleum-based plastics along with the rapid increase of production of agricultural and food industrial waste have arisen as some of the leading worldwide challenges concerning sustainable environment, resource recovery and an effective utilization of resources. In many industrial plants engaged with food processing, significant amounts of processing residues and by-products such as fruit and vegetable peels, seeds, pomace, husk, bran, shell, and other wastes are produced. Most of those wastes, although, usually disposed or partially utilized as, contain a significant amount of renewable polymeric materials such as starch, hemicelluloses, celluloses, pectin’s and proteins which can be used as raw material to substitute petroleum-based plastics, in order to produce bioplastic sustainably. This review aimed at investigating different materials, both from agro-industry waste and food-
industry waste materials, as novel renewable feedstocks for the production of biodegradable bioplastics. Through waste valorization, designed as a "waste-to-resource" integrated approach leading to new valuable materials based on low-value waste residues that find use in sustainable packaging. The obtained bioplastics from wastes can be incorporated into existing bioplastic matrices.
Thus, improving mechanical, barrier, thermal, physical functions and degradation performances that appear to be in-situ related to the type of employed raw materials, to the collection methodology, plasticizer content, processing conditions, and presence of suitable natural or iodegradable compounds. This novel method of transforming food processing wastes into a suitable material which allows production of bioplastics represents a Shift away
from linear use and dispose manner to a circular use and utilize mode focusing on a circular bio-economy of waste valorization to conserve resources by creating renewable products for better exploitation. Food-industry residual can
be transformed to a functional material, allowing integrated processes in waste management and sustainable material and resource usage. Finally, bioplastics produced from waste hold considerable potential to convert residues from agriculture and the food industry from environmental problems into a resource for renewable production. Research will still be needed to enhance the quality, processing technology, characterization, and decomposition behavior, in addition to the polymers obtained.