Waste Bioplastics in Sustainable Development
A special issue of Recycling (ISSN 2313-4321).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 555
Special Issue Editor
Interests: organic waste treatment; biopolymers; emerging contaminants; anaerobic digestion; composting; sewage sludge; bioplastics degradation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The excessive use of plastics, their long half-life, and the improper management of plastics waste have caused their leakage in almost all natural environments. In addition, most plastics are produced using oil, increasing the carbon footprint of these materials. In this context, bioplastics have emerged as potential substitutes for fossil plastics since they are defined as biodegradable and/or bio-based materials. Bioplastics are currently used in food packaging applications and the production of single-use items, as well as in the agricultural, medical, and industrial sectors, and their market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.Therefore, the stream of bioplastics waste is expected to increase. Bioplastics are usually collected with biowaste and treated through composting, leading to their degradation and avoiding their accumulation into the environment. Nevertheless, circular economy principles establish that prior to disposal, other strategies should be used to treat wastes (i.e., recovery of energy and materials).
In this context, this Special Issue aims to gain knowledge through original research and scientific evidence on the potential of waste bioplastics in sustainable development. The following research topics are welcome:
- Waste bioplastics degradation in industrial environments (composting, anaerobic digestion);
- Waste-to-energy strategies for energy recovery of waste bioplastics (i.e., anaerobic digestion, incineration, pyrolysis, etc.);
- Recovery of materials from waste bioplastics (e.g., mechanical recycling, recovery of molecules);
- Sustainability of bioplastics under different waste management scenarios;
- Impact of growing concentration of waste bioplastics on waste management systems;
- New biopolymers and bioplastics eco-design for increased recovery;
- Valorization of waste streams for biopolymers production;
- Environmental fate of plastics/bioplastics after their leakage into the environment;
- Application of bioplastics for conventional polymers substitution;
- Microplastics/microbioplastics accumulation in the environment and their potential toxicity.
Additionally, review articles describing the state of the art and the potential development of research on these topics will be welcome. Researchers from academia and industry are invited to submit their research on the above, and other, topics of relevance to waste bioplastics management.
Dr. Mirko Cucina
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Recycling is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- circular economy
- waste management
- recycling
- bioplastics
- biopolymer
- bioplastics degradation
- resource recovery
- energy recovery
- life cycle assessment
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