TY - JOUR
T1 - Benchmarking bioplastics
T2 - a natural step towards a sustainable future
AU - Bhagwat, Geetika
AU - Gray, Kelsey
AU - Wilson, Scott P.
AU - Muniyasamy, Sudhakar
AU - Vincent, Salom Gnana Thanga
AU - Bush, Richard
AU - Palanisami, Thava
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - The ubiquitous presence of plastic litter and its tending fate as marine debris have given rise to a strong anti-waste global movement which implicitly endorses bioplastics as a promising substitute. With ‘corporate social responsibility’ growing ever more popular as a business promotional tool, companies and businesses are continually making claims about their products being “green”, “environmentally friendly”, “biodegradable”, or “100% compostable”. Imprudent use of these words creates a false sense of assurance at the consumer end about them being responsible towards the environment by choosing these products. The policies surrounding bioplastics regulation are neither stringent not enforceable at both national and international stage which indirectly allow these “safe words” to be used as an easy plug to validate the supposed corporate social responsibility. Similar to conventional plastics, unregulated and mismanaged bioplastics could potentially create another environmental mayhem. Therefore, it is a crucial time to harness the power of law to set applicable standards with a high threshold for the classification of “bioplastics”, which companies can aspire to, and customers can trust. In this review, we analyse the multifarious international bioplastics standards, critically assess the potential shortcomings and highlight how the intersection of law with science and technology is crucial towards the reform of bioplastics regulation. [Graphic abstract presents]
AB - The ubiquitous presence of plastic litter and its tending fate as marine debris have given rise to a strong anti-waste global movement which implicitly endorses bioplastics as a promising substitute. With ‘corporate social responsibility’ growing ever more popular as a business promotional tool, companies and businesses are continually making claims about their products being “green”, “environmentally friendly”, “biodegradable”, or “100% compostable”. Imprudent use of these words creates a false sense of assurance at the consumer end about them being responsible towards the environment by choosing these products. The policies surrounding bioplastics regulation are neither stringent not enforceable at both national and international stage which indirectly allow these “safe words” to be used as an easy plug to validate the supposed corporate social responsibility. Similar to conventional plastics, unregulated and mismanaged bioplastics could potentially create another environmental mayhem. Therefore, it is a crucial time to harness the power of law to set applicable standards with a high threshold for the classification of “bioplastics”, which companies can aspire to, and customers can trust. In this review, we analyse the multifarious international bioplastics standards, critically assess the potential shortcomings and highlight how the intersection of law with science and technology is crucial towards the reform of bioplastics regulation. [Graphic abstract presents]
KW - Bioplastics
KW - Bio-based plastics
KW - Bioplastic policies
KW - Plastic pollution
KW - Bioplastic standards
KW - Biodegradable
KW - Global policies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088861895&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10924-020-01830-8
DO - 10.1007/s10924-020-01830-8
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85088861895
SN - 1566-2543
VL - 28
SP - 3055
EP - 3075
JO - Journal of Polymers and the Environment
JF - Journal of Polymers and the Environment
IS - 12
ER -