Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Addressing Stakeholder Concerns Regarding the Effective Use of Bio-Based and Biodegradable Plastics

This study reviewed stakeholder concerns about bio-based and biodegradable plastics, finding that consumer confusion about what biodegradable means, inconsistent labeling, and lack of adequate composting infrastructure are major barriers to adoption, and that clearer standards and communication are needed to realize their environmental potential.

2021 Resources 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Bio-Based Polymers from Lab to Market: Current Strategies, Market Dynamics and Research Trends

This review explores the growing market for bio-based polymers, which are plastics made from renewable biological sources rather than petroleum. These materials are designed to be compostable and biodegradable, addressing public concern about plastic waste and microplastic pollution. While promising, the review notes that challenges remain in making bio-based plastics durable and cost-competitive enough to replace conventional plastics at scale.

2023 C – Journal of Carbon Research 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable Plastics: Standards, Policies, and Impacts

This review evaluates the promise and limitations of biodegradable plastics as a solution to plastic pollution. Researchers found that while biodegradable plastics can help reduce environmental persistence, many only break down under specific industrial composting conditions and do not readily degrade in natural environments like oceans or landfills, highlighting the need for clearer standards and consumer education.

2020 ChemSusChem 438 citations
Article Tier 2

Methodologies to Assess the Biodegradability of Bio-Based Polymers—Current Knowledge and Existing Gaps

This review assessed existing methodologies for testing the biodegradability of bio-based polymers, identifying gaps in current standards and emphasizing the need for updated legislation and testing guidelines to ensure bioplastics fully degrade without releasing hazardous compounds.

2022 Polymers 141 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in Bioplastics: Application and Biodegradation

This review examines recent advances in bioplastics — including their applications in packaging, agriculture, and medicine — and critically evaluates their actual biodegradation performance in both natural and industrial environments, finding a significant gap between claims and real-world outcomes.

2020 Polymers 376 citations
Article Tier 2

What Are “Bioplastics”? Defining Renewability, Biosynthesis, Biodegradability, and Biocompatibility

This review examines the evolving definitions and standards surrounding bioplastics, including their renewability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. Researchers found that the marketplace uses inconsistent terminology, making it difficult for consumers and regulators to evaluate bioplastic claims accurately. The study calls for clearer categorization standards to help bioplastics fulfill their potential as a building block in a circular economy that reduces conventional plastic pollution.

2023 Polymers 51 citations
Article Tier 2

A Sustainable Approach to Plastics; Bioplastics

This review examines bioplastics as a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, comparing bio-based and biodegradable options against traditional plastics on environmental impact, biodegradability standards, and performance, finding that while bioplastics offer potential solutions to microplastic generation and soil toxicity, standardization and lifecycle assessment remain key challenges.

2023 RECENT - REzultatele CErcetărilor Noastre Tehnice 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Pitfalls of ambiguity in the development of safe and sustainable biobased plastics: How can industry and regulators better navigate this landscape?

This policy analysis examines how vague and inconsistent definitions of 'biobased,' 'biodegradable,' and 'bioplastic' across EU regulations create confusion for industry and regulators trying to reduce microplastic pollution. The authors propose a decision tree to clarify polymer classification, which is important because mislabeled bioplastics may still shed persistent microplastics in the environment.

2026 Resources Conservation & Recycling Advances
Article Tier 2

Application of biodegradable plastic and their environmental impacts: A revie

This review examines the environmental impacts of conventional petroleum-based plastics and evaluates biodegradable alternatives made from plant-based and other organic materials. Researchers found that while bioplastics show promise for reducing long-term pollution, their degradation rates vary significantly depending on environmental conditions. The study emphasizes that switching to biodegradable plastics alone is not enough without proper waste management infrastructure.

2024 World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews 7 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review of Bioplastics and Their Adoption in the Circular Economy

This review examines the current landscape of bioplastics, including bio-based and biodegradable materials, as potential alternatives to conventional fossil-fuel-derived plastics. Researchers assessed standards, life cycle analyses, and environmental performance of various bioplastic types. The study highlights that while bioplastics offer potential benefits for reducing fossil resource dependency, challenges remain around their actual environmental performance and integration into circular economy systems.

2021 Polymers 300 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring biopolymer degradation: Environmental effects and future insights

This review examines how biopolymers degrade in the environment and evaluates their potential as sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. While biopolymers offer environmental benefits like reduced pollution, the study notes challenges including slower-than-expected degradation in natural settings, potential microplastic generation, and the need for better standardized testing and supportive policies.

2026 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable Polymers: The Future of Sustainable Plastic Alternatives

This review examines biodegradable polymers as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, evaluating their potential to reduce microplastic pollution and ecological degradation. The authors assess the performance, environmental fate, and scalability of current biodegradable materials, identifying key challenges for widespread adoption across packaging and consumer product applications.

2025 Scriptora International Journal of Research and Innovation (SIJRI)
Article Tier 2

Biodegradability of Plastics: Challenges and Misconceptions

This review addresses widespread misconceptions about plastic biodegradability, explaining why most plastics persist in the environment for decades to centuries despite industry marketing claims. It clarifies the distinction between degradable, biodegradable, and compostable plastics and explains why real-world conditions rarely support plastic breakdown.

2017 Environmental Science & Technology 324 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioplastics and biodegradable plastics: A review of recent advances, feasibility and cleaner production

Researchers systematically reviewed over 280 articles on bioplastics and biodegradable plastics, finding that while polylactic acid and polyhydroxyalkanoates reduce fossil fuel dependence, their higher production costs, lower durability, and tendency to form microplastics when improperly composted remain significant barriers to replacing conventional plastics.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 59 citations
Article Tier 2

Use phase and end-of-life modeling of biobased biodegradable plastics in life cycle assessment: a review

This review examined how biobased and biodegradable plastics are modeled in life cycle assessments, particularly for their use phase and end-of-life scenarios, identifying methodological challenges and inconsistencies that make it difficult to accurately compare the environmental performance of bioplastics to conventional plastics.

2022 Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Integrated and Consolidated Review of Plastic Waste Management and Bio-Based Biodegradable Plastics: Challenges and Opportunities

This review integrates and consolidates the global status of plastic waste management alongside the development of bio-based and biodegradable polymer alternatives. With cumulative plastic production reaching 8.3 billion tonnes by 2015 and 79% of plastic waste ending up in landfills or the environment, the review identifies urgent need for both improved waste management and scalable bioplastic alternatives.

2020 Sustainability 164 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable plastics: Green hope or greenwashing?

This review examines biodegradable plastics and their limitations, finding that many do not break down effectively under real-world environmental conditions and may still fragment into microplastics. The authors caution that biodegradable plastics should not be viewed as a simple solution to plastic pollution without better standards and end-of-life infrastructure.

2020 Marine pollution bulletin
Article Tier 2

Bioplastics and the environment: Solution or Green Illusion?

This review critically evaluates whether bioplastics are genuinely environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional plastics, finding that many bioplastics degrade incompletely under real-world conditions, form persistent microplastic fragments, and may pose ecological risks comparable to conventional plastics.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Plastics
Article Tier 2

Discussion about suitable applications for biodegradable plastics regarding their sources, uses and end of life

Researchers critically evaluated the scientific basis for biodegradable plastics as a solution to plastic pollution, concluding that no plastic biodegrades universally across all ecosystems, that treating the environment as a waste treatment system is unacceptable, and that compostable plastics require dedicated collection infrastructure to deliver on their environmental promise.

2022 Waste Management 70 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on biodegradable polymer: Shortcomings, developments, and future direction

This review examines the current market share, classifications, and shortcomings of biodegradable polymer materials, synthesizing developments in this field and identifying future directions for reducing environmental pollution caused by conventional non-degradable polymer composites.

2023 Applied and Computational Engineering 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Wasted Bioplastics

This paper provides a broad overview of bioplastics — materials made from renewable biological sources — discussing their potential as a partial solution to global plastic pollution and the complexity of their biodegradability. While microplastic accumulation in oceans is mentioned as context for the urgency of the problem, the paper's focus is on bioplastic production and biodegradation rather than microplastic health or environmental impacts.

2023 World Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastics of the Future? An Interdisciplinary Review on Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers: Progress in Chemistry, Societal Views, and Environmental Implications

This review examines biodegradable and biobased plastics as alternatives to conventional plastics, assessing their environmental impact five years after the authors' previous analysis. While these newer plastics show promise in reducing persistent waste, they raise their own concerns, including the potential to generate microplastics and affect soil health under certain conditions. The authors argue that a full life-cycle approach -- from raw materials to disposal -- is essential for these alternatives to truly help.

2025 Angewandte Chemie International Edition 33 citations
Article Tier 2

An exploration of future of bioplastics and their physical, chemical and biological characteristic through bibliometric Analysis

This review explored the future of bioplastics as alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, examining their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and comparing degradation behavior in different environments. The paper assessed current limitations in bioplastic performance and biodegradability that must be addressed before they can effectively replace conventional plastics at scale.

2024 Research Square (Research Square)
Article Tier 2

A Review: Investigation of Plastics Effect on the Environment, Bioplastic Global Market Share and Its Future Perspectives

This review covers the environmental and human health impacts of plastics, with a focus on microplastics and nanoplastics, and reviews global trends in bioplastic production as an alternative. It finds that while bioplastics show promise, current production scale is far too small to address the existing plastic pollution crisis.

2019 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) 14 citations