Evaluation of Biodegradability of Polylactic Acid and Compostable Bags from Food Waste under Industrial Composting

Angeliki Maragkaki (), Nikitas G. Malliaros, Ioannis Sampathianakis, Theofanis Lolos, Christos Tsompanidis and Thrassyvoulos Manios
Additional contact information
Angeliki Maragkaki: Department of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Science, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71401 Crete, Greece
Nikitas G. Malliaros: Department of Chemistry, Voutes Campus, University of Crete, Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
Ioannis Sampathianakis: Department of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Science, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71401 Crete, Greece
Theofanis Lolos: ENVIROPLAN SA, 23 Perikleous & Iras St., Gerakas, 15344 Athens, Greece
Christos Tsompanidis: ENVIROPLAN SA, 23 Perikleous & Iras St., Gerakas, 15344 Athens, Greece
Thrassyvoulos Manios: Department of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Science, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71401 Crete, Greece

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: To reduce plastic pollution, biodegradable plastics have been introduced to the market to replace petroleum-based plastics. This work investigates the biodegradation/disintegration of pure poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA B2B ), composed of food waste (FW), and PLLA B2B bags, under industrial composting conditions, in order to determine whether they are compostable and to examine compost quality. In order to study the biodegradation, pure PLLA B2B was degraded in laboratory conditions and bag samples were put into simulation systems using windrow technology. Phytotoxicity tests were carried out for every compost sample and high germination values were found (97–103.8%). The pure PLLA reached an average biodegradation value of 100.2 ± 3.7% and a disintegration value of 100.0 ± 0.0%, resulting in biodegradable mature compost. After a seven week composting trial, the bag samples had fully decomposed. The samples had no influence on compost characteristics and there were no visually perceptible changes to the compost. Therefore, we suggest that food waste bioplastic can be used as a potential eco-material for compostable bags, one which could be used in industrial composting units and which offers degradable active materials with low environmental impact.

Keywords: biodegradation; food waste; polylactic acid; compostable bags; industrial composting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15963/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15963/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15963-:d:1280703

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().