Degradation of bio-based film plastics in soil under natural conditions

Degradation of Polylactic Acid/Polypropylene Carbonate Films in Soil and Phosphate Buffer and Their Potential Usefulness in Agriculture and Agrochemistry

“…The next stages of biodegradation are biofragmentation and assimilation. When observing the polymeric films with scanning electron microscopy, the appearance of holes on the surface of the sample is visible, which ultimately leads to their disintegration [ 38 , 39 ].…”

Biodegradation of edible film from corn starch and iota carrageenan with butterfly pea flower extract (Clitoria ternatea L)

“…The sample lost a lot of weight between days 12 and 15. PLA_1 and PLA_2 films had deterioration rates of 0.4 µm.year -1 and 0.6 µm.year -1 , respectively, in a study conducted by Slezak et al (2023) [7], and these degradation rates were detected using soil media for 12 months. It is difficult to compare the research report to the literature because not all authors are interested in surface degradation.…”

“…The biodegradable, edible film was made from seawater from Marina Beach in Semarang and soil from a plant shop. Biodegradable kinetics for corn starch edible film and iota carrageenan biodegradation using equations from Slezak et al (2023) [7] and Chamas et al (2020) [8]. Determine the mass loss of the film using the following equation before estimating the biodegradable kinetics:…”

Exploring the potential of earthworms to reduce microplastic pollution in soils

“…A previous work conducted at optimal temperature (30 °C) and moisture content (30%) showed that the degradation of a commercial biodegradable seedling tray in soils was limited by the relatively recalcitrant components in the plastic, i.e., PLA and PBAT, posing the potential accumulation in soils (Meng et al, 2023b). Others have also reported low degradation rates of currently popular biodegradable plastics/polymers under various conditions in soils (Satti et al, 2018;Liao and Chen, 2021;Borelbach et al, 2023;Slezak et al, 2023). The degradation rate of plastics not only on their intrinsic properties-the polymer type-but also depends on the environment conditions to which they are exposed.…”

“…Currently, PLA, PBAT, and their blends are promoted as biodegradable plastics for agricultural production. Although their biodegradability has indeed been validated under certain conditions (Zumstein et al, 2018), many studies under realistic soil conditions have shown that products (commercial or lab-prepared, films or others) made from these polymers can also last longer than expected in soils (Sintim et al, 2020;Liao and Chen, 2021;Meng et al, 2023b;Slezak et al, 2023), which suggests that the biodegradability of a polymer not only depends on the intrinsic property, but also on the soil environment it is exposed to (Han et al, 2021).…”