BIOPLASTICS | MATERIALS
Recent developments in bioplastics include several projects to convert agricultural waste into viable materials, as well as several high-barrier grades for food packaging
Green revolution: new sources for bioplastics
Bio-based plastics continue to force their way into new applications – still mainly in packaging film but also in areas such as foamed sheet. In addition, researchers are currently investigating a variety of materials – including rice straw, citrus pruning waste and cellulose – as starting points for bioplastics. Other research is looking to improve biodegradability through the development of novel enzymes and microbes. Using ‘food’ crops like cereals and sugar to
produce bio-based materials in Europe has benefits for food security, biodiversity, agriculture and climate-change mitigation, says a new paper from Nova Institute. Europe’s bioeconomy will soon be the focus of a new EU strategy aimed at boosting autonomy and competitiveness while reducing its reliance on fossil-based resources, says Nova. Its report says the EU has enough biomass to realise the strategy “Despite concern and frequent pushback against using first-generation biomass for industrial applications, scientific evidence suggests that these concerns are largely misplaced,” says the
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report. “The debate is shaped by emotional and political arguments rather than robust data or a comprehensive understanding of the global food system.” The research highlights four benefits to the EU
from using biomass (including food crops) for applications such as materials: making EU agriculture more competitive; increasing food security; supporting climate change mitigation; and supporting biodiversity protection. The study also considers the potential impact of
shifting only to second-generation sugars (from lignocellulose) instead of using first-generation biomass. First, the same amount of fermentable sugars for the biorefinery would need many times more land; second, there would be less protein supply as a by-product of first-generation non-food production; third, the emergency reserve of first- generation crops (starch, sugar and plant oils) would be lost; and, with 2G sugars being two to three times more expensive than 1G sugars, biorefineries would be even less likely to compete with fossil solutions. The report was commissioned by the European
January/February 2026 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 11
Main image: Nova Institute says using food crops like corn to make biomaterials has several benefits
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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