Benchmarking Bioplastics: A Natural Step Towards a Sustainable Future

The ubiquitous presence of plastic litter and its tending fate as marine debris have given rise to a strong anti-waste global movement which implicitly endorses bioplastics as a promising substitute. With ‘corporate social responsibility’ growing ever more popular as a business promotional tool, com...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of polymers and the environment 2020-12, Vol.28 (12), p.3055-3075
Main Authors: Bhagwat, Geetika, Gray, Kelsey, Wilson, Scott P., Muniyasamy, Sudhakar, Vincent, Salom Gnana Thanga, Bush, Richard, Palanisami, Thava
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradability
Biodegradation
Bioplastics
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Legislation
Marine debris
Materials Science
Polymer Sciences
Review
Social responsibility
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The ubiquitous presence of plastic litter and its tending fate as marine debris have given rise to a strong anti-waste global movement which implicitly endorses bioplastics as a promising substitute. With ‘corporate social responsibility’ growing ever more popular as a business promotional tool, companies and businesses are continually making claims about their products being “green”, “environmentally friendly”, “biodegradable”, or “100% compostable”. Imprudent use of these words creates a false sense of assurance at the consumer end about them being responsible towards the environment by choosing these products. The policies surrounding bioplastics regulation are neither stringent not enforceable at both national and international stage which indirectly allow these “safe words” to be used as an easy plug to validate the supposed corporate social responsibility. Similar to conventional plastics, unregulated and mismanaged bioplastics could potentially create another environmental mayhem. Therefore, it is a crucial time to harness the power of law to set applicable standards with a high threshold for the classification of “bioplastics”, which companies can aspire to, and customers can trust. In this review, we analyse the multifarious international bioplastics standards, critically assess the potential shortcomings and highlight how the intersection of law with science and technology is crucial towards the reform of bioplastics regulation. Graphic Abstract
ISSN:1566-2543
1572-8919
DOI:10.1007/s10924-020-01830-8