Life Cycle Management in bioplastics production

The benefits of biodegradable and compostable (B&C) products are attained when the organic waste (OW) is composted. B&C products may improve the management of OW, so that greater and cleaner OW flows can be collected and composted. In this paper we show the case of the catering sector as an example of this. Disposable tableware is usually distributed at fast food restaurants and town festivals. The high rate of meal serving makes separate collection a very difficult task. The resulting mixed heterogeneous waste (food residues and plastic cutlery) cannot be easily recycled and is therefore landfilled or incinerated. Alternatively, with B&C cutlery the resulting waste is homogeneous (food and B&C plastic waste) and thus can be recovered by bio-recycling. This study shows that: (i) composting of OW is preferable (ii) the impact is substantially decreased when catering is carried out with B&C cutlery and total waste composted; (iii) the environmental advantage of B&C products is partly due to their nature; (iv) the main advantage is due to the creation of a homogeneous, biodegradable and recyclable OW. The use of B&C products turns a non-recyclable waste into a recyclable one. This study also indicates that comparative LCA studies should first identify the real environmental problem (in this case, the waste production) and then verify how different products and processes affect the problem