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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Socio-economic Importance of Biomaterials in the Transition to the Circular Economy Model
ClearCircular economy, bioeconomy, and sustainable development goals: a systematic literature review
Researchers conducted a systematic review of 649 studies examining how circular economy and bioeconomy concepts contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They found that while these approaches show promise for addressing environmental challenges including plastic waste, most research has focused on a limited set of goals and lacks empirical data. The study identifies key research gaps, including the need for more studies on economic and social impacts in developing countries.
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.
Strategic selection tool for thermoplastic materials in a renewable circular economy: Identifying future circular polymers
Researchers developed a strategic material selection tool to guide the transition toward a renewable circular economy for thermoplastics, helping identify which polymers can meet performance requirements while being decoupled from fossil feedstocks and compatible with biodegradation or closed-loop recycling.
Towards a Circular Economy of Plastics: An Evaluation of the Systematic Transition to a New Generation of Bioplastics
This review evaluates the transition from petroleum-based plastics to bioplastics within a circular economy framework, assessing the sustainability, production challenges, and environmental trade-offs of current bioplastic alternatives.
Bio-based plastics in a circular economy: A review of recovery pathways and implications for product design
Researchers reviewed how bio-based plastics — made from renewable plant sources — can be recovered and recycled at end-of-life, finding that the feasibility of eight different recovery methods depends heavily not just on plastic chemistry but on how products are designed, and offering guidance for designers to improve recyclability.
An Integrated Analysis of Plastic Packaging Value Chain: Identifying Barriers and Enablers for a Circular Economy
Researchers analyzed the full plastic packaging value chain to identify barriers and enablers for transitioning to a circular economy, tracing the evolution of circular economy concepts and quantifying the environmental impacts associated with exponential plastic waste growth. The study provides an integrated framework mapping opportunities for intervention across production, use, collection, and recycling stages.
Realising the circular bioeconomy
This policy paper examines how the bioeconomy and circular economy concepts can work together to reduce waste and environmental impact, including from plastic production. Moving toward bio-based, circular systems is part of the long-term solution to the plastic pollution problem.
Contribution to a Circular Economy Model: From Lignocellulosic Wastes from the Extraction of Vegetable Oils to the Development of a New Composite
Researchers developed a fully bio-based composite material using bio-derived polyethylene from sugar cane and chia seed oil extraction by-product as filler. This circular economy approach to bioplastic composites could replace petroleum-based plastics and reduce the microplastic pollution that comes from conventional plastic degradation.
Economia Circular E Desenvolvimento Sustentável: Compostabilidade, Biodegradação E Inovação Em Biopolímeros E Compósitos Renováveis Para Aplicações Estruturais, Agrícolas E Embalagens
This review paper summarizes research on new plant-based plastics that can break down naturally in the environment, unlike regular plastics made from oil. These eco-friendly materials could replace traditional plastic in food packaging and farming, potentially reducing the tiny plastic particles that end up in our food and water. However, the technology still needs improvements and better waste management systems before these biodegradable plastics can widely replace regular plastics.
Smart Material Choice: The Importance of Circular Design Strategy Applications for Bio-Based Food Packaging Preproduction and End-of-Life Life Cycle Stages
This review examined circular design strategies for bio-based food packaging materials, finding that integrating lifecycle thinking into material selection and packaging design significantly reduces environmental impact, and that bio-based plastics can contribute to a circular economy if end-of-life infrastructure supports proper composting or recycling.
Bioplastics for a circular economy
Researchers reviewed the role of bioplastics — made from bio-based or biodegradable polymers — in circular economy systems, finding that while they can lower carbon footprints and enable end-of-life biodegradation, trade-offs including land competition, unclear recycling compatibility, and higher costs limit their scalable sustainable impact.
Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland
This review surveys the state of circular economy research in Finland, covering academic, policy, and industry perspectives on transitioning away from the linear 'take-make-dispose' model. Circular economy principles are increasingly relevant to addressing plastic waste and microplastic pollution.
Biopolymers and Biomaterials for Special Applications within the Context of the Circular Economy
This review examines biopolymers and biomaterials for special applications within the circular economy, finding that for products like medical supplies that are difficult to remanufacture, bio-based and biodegradable materials offer a pathway to reducing persistent plastic waste.
The Circular Economy in EU Policy as a Response to Contemporary Ecological Challenges
This article reviews how EU countries are implementing circular economy policies and progress toward reducing plastic waste, finding large variation across member states. Shifting from linear to circular plastic economies is critical for reducing the production of waste that generates microplastics.
Are Reliable and Emerging Technologies Available for Plastic Recycling in a Circular Economy?
This review examines the current landscape of plastic recycling technologies -- including mechanical, thermal, chemical, and biological depolymerization methods such as pyrolysis -- evaluating their readiness for circular economy integration. It concludes that while recycling rates remain below 10% globally, emerging technologies offer pathways toward closed-loop plastic supply chains, though full-scale implementation requires further development and performance assessment.
Polymers in Circular Economy: A Comprehensive Approach to Sustainability. An overview.
This review examines the role of polymers within the circular economy framework, analyzing strategies for reducing plastic consumption, improving recyclability, and transitioning toward more sustainable production and waste management models. The authors discuss the importance of government regulation and industry standards in driving circular economy adoption, while acknowledging barriers including economic inertia, upfront investment costs, and resistance to systemic change.
Plastic accumulation during COVID-19: call for another pandemic; bioplastic a step towards this challenge?
Researchers reviewed the surge in single-use plastic waste driven by COVID-19 personal protective equipment and evaluated bioplastics as an alternative, concluding that while bioplastics have limitations, transitioning toward them alongside circular economy waste management and policy intervention is essential to prevent plastic pollution from compounding pandemic-era environmental pressures.
Transitioning Responsibly Toward a Circular Bioeconomy: Using Stakeholder Workshops to Reveal Market Dependencies
This paper reflects on stakeholder engagement processes for transitioning to circular bioeconomy models, finding that workshops can reveal important market dependencies but struggle to simultaneously achieve normative and co-design goals. Circular economy approaches are key to reducing plastic waste and microplastic generation.
Bioplastics in the circular bioeconomy: Production pathways, biodegradation mechanisms, and environmental implications
This comprehensive review examines how bioplastics — plastics made from renewable biological sources — fit into a circular economy, covering how they are produced, how microorganisms break them down, and the environmental risks when degradation is incomplete. A key concern is that even bio-based plastics can form microplastics if they do not fully degrade in real-world conditions like marine or soil environments, meaning that simply switching to bioplastics does not automatically solve the microplastic pollution problem.
Research & Innovation for Sustainable Products: Polysaccarides for a smart circular economy at zero waste
This paper examined the role of polysaccharides in supporting a smart circular economy with zero waste goals, framing scientific research and innovation as essential tools for developing sustainable bio-based materials that replace conventional plastics.
The rate of use of the Circular Economy in individual sectors
Not relevant to microplastics — this paper reviews the adoption of circular economy principles across industrial sectors within the European Union policy framework, without specific focus on plastic pollution.
Circularity in Practice: Review of Main Current Approaches and Strategic Propositions for an Efficient Circular Economy of Materials
This review proposes a structured framework for classifying circular economy strategies — including reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and biological cycles — and evaluates their current adoption and barriers to scaling toward genuinely circular material flows.
Bio-based plastics – a sustainable solution to plastic pollution
This review outlines the production, properties, and sustainability potential of bio-based plastics derived from renewable or recycled raw materials, arguing they can form part of a circular economy with lower carbon footprints than conventional petroleum-based plastics.
Business development from plastic wastes toward circular economy
This book chapter reviews how plastic waste can be converted into valuable materials or energy through various business models aligned with circular economy principles. Developing economically viable pathways for plastic waste recovery is essential for reducing the flow of plastics into the environment.