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Bio Polymers to Save Human Health and Environment: Chitin and Lignin
Summary
This review examines chitin and lignin as bio-based polymer alternatives derived from food and agro-forestry byproducts that could reduce plastic waste within a circular green economy framework. The authors discuss how nano-sized versions of these natural polymers can be used to produce biodegradable products, smart tissues mimicking extracellular matrix structure, and sustainable packaging for medical and cosmetic applications.
The actual human ecosystems are producing a high quantity of plastic waste that represents a tough problem to be solved. Thus the need of operating and living by the circular green economy using food and agro-forestry by-products, such as nano-sized chitin and lignin, to make innovative biodegradable products and packagings at zero waste. These natural polymers may be used, for example, to make smart tissues which, copying the Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM)' structure, result effective and safe, for medical and cosmetic use, also because packaged into biodegradable containers. This new way to produce and consume will be useful to stop plastic waste and pollution invading land and oceans, safe guarding the natural raw materials and the Earth' biodiversity for the incoming generations.
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