From trash to treasure: review on upcycling of fruit and vegetable wastes into starch based bioplastics

Abstract

Growing public concern toward environmental sustainability is currently motivating a paradigm shift toward designing easily degradable plastics that can replace conventional synthetic plastics. The massive rise in food waste generation has led to an increased burden on landfills, thereby resulting in the higher emission of greenhouse gases. Using this food waste to produce bioplastics will benefit not only the environment but also develop a systematic food waste management system. Moreover, bioplastics are preferred due to the use of biomaterials derived from renewable resources. Furthermore, bioplastics degrade faster than conventional synthetic plastics, which take years to degrade. The biodegradation of bioplastics occurs under normal environmental conditions and disintegrates into carbon dioxide, water, biomass, and inorganic compounds without producing hazardous residues. In this review, we will discuss the synthesis of starch based bioplastics using discarded parts of various fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, we will address the importance of various components in the development of starch based bioplastics, such as fillers, plasticizers, and other additives that are essential in providing the bioplastic with different physio-mechanical properties. Therefore, bioplastic production using food waste will pave the way to achieve systematic waste management and environmental sustainability in the near future.

Keywords:

• Bioplastic
• biodegradable
• food waste
• renewal resources
• fillers
• plasticizers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).