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Today, many people enjoy an easy lifestyle. However, this comfort has come with a price because of plastic that is thrown away after a single use. As such, governments around the world have pushed for biodegradable plastics to be produced, especially for food packaging, and these can be easily seen in supermarkets, for example. Using plastic for only one time has resulted in environmental pollution. To solve this problem, polylactic acid (PLA) has been introduced as an alternative bio-based plastic to replace artificial petroleum-based plastics. PLA comes from renewable resources and is biodegradable under certain conditions. Furthermore, the development of the properties of PLA could solve problems related to its weakness in packaging applications. This editorial proposes expansion of the property attributes of PLA to include hygienic character, through the addition of antibacterial agents. This can be done by introducing two alternative approaches for waste management: PLA recycling and degradation. However, some key research is still needed to improve the properties and waste management of PLA relative to the effectiveness of its reprocessing and acceleration of its (bio)degradation.

A spontaneous combination of hygienic in situ compatibilized polybutylene 2 succinate/polylactic acids (PBS/PLA) were formulated through the addition of optimum 3 dosages of dicumyl peroxide (DCP), which was a fundamental motivator, and 2-4 hydroxypropyl-3-piperazinyl-quinoline carboxylic acid methacrylate (HPQM) as an 5 antibacterial agent via a melt blending process. The effect of reprocessing the mechanical and 6 natural attributes, as well as the hygienic effectiveness to counter the Escherichia coli of the 7 PBS/PLA combinations were explored. The outcomes demonstrated that varying processing 8 cycles affected the rupture performance of the PBS/PLA blends. Furthermore, the toughness 9 of the PBS/PLA blends rose as the number of cycles escalated. Three processing cycles 10 exhibited the highest elongation at the break and tensile toughness, while the number of 11 processing cycles did not have any major negative impact on the tensile modulus and strength.12 For the effect of the number of the processing cycles of the hygienic effectiveness against the 13 E. coli on the PBS/PLA blends doped with HPQM, the percentages of bacterial reduction 14 appeared to rise as the contact time was increased, but decreased with the increasing number 15 of cycles. The study suggested that the PBS/PLA blends could be reprocessed up to three times 16 and still retain their optimal properties.

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