Bioplastics from Vegetable Waste: A Versatile Platform for the Fabrication of Polymer Films

The possibility to use the macromolecules present in vegetable biomass, with minimal processing, as alternative materials to produce new green bioplastics for packaging is very appealing. This strategy can help to mitigate environmental issues due to broad usage of conventional plastics. Since a large variety of vegetable waste, in terms of chemical composition and supramolecular organization, is produced by the food industry, many different bioplastics can be produced with the same protocol. Bioplastics films from carrot pomace, cocoa shells, spinach stems and orange peels will be characterized in terms of thermomechanical properties and biodegradability. The mechanical properties will be correlated with the composition and morphology as determined by means of a combination of techniques (solid-state NMR, SEM and confocal microscopy). The biodegradability of the films will be characterized in terms of Biochemical Oxygen Demand as function of time during 30 days of incubation in seawater.