Abstract:
The increase in fossil fuel–
based plastic use and its subsequential refuse
production and dispersion in the environment
cause long-lasting waste that can pile up
quickly. Compostable bio-based plastics,
polymeric compounds that are functionally
similar to fossil fuel–based plastics, seem to
be more environmentally sustainable and
particularly useful and recommended in food
packaging. Even with the lower impacts of
bioplastics, there is still a need for effective
end-of-life management strategies to promote
more efficient treatment of bioplastic waste.
For biodegradable bioplastics, this endeavour
could involve composting. Bioplastics would
be processed like any other organic waste,
prompting a closer study of how efficient this
process is in degrading them, or if their
presence can persist in high-quality compost
or even in cultivated food. This paper focuses
on organic waste treatment and compost
production to assess the efficiency of
bioplastic degrada-tion, aiming to explore the
bioplastic content in compost in reference
with a wide com-posting plants overview. An
analysis of waste flow data from selected
Italian composting plants highlighted a
bioplastic reduction rate near 80%, with a
small variance for different kinds of
bioplastics, stressing the importance of
investing in collection.
