Biodegradables are sortable and suitable for material recycling streams. Efficient sorting of all plastics is essential for high quality recycling outputs.
Biodegradable plastics have the potential to play a significant role in advancing a circular economy by addressing several environmental challenges. They can help mitigate plastic waste, promote sustainable resource utiliszation, enhance soil health, and contribute to the reduction of persistent microplastics in our ecosystems.
Material recycling* of biodegradable plastics as an additional end-of-life option could integrate biodegradable plastic in a broader circular economy framework**. Biodegradable products could (if not composted or used in other soil or marine applications) be collected in plastic collection streams, sorted, and materially recycled without adversely affecting the recycling of other plastic streams.
To realisze a true circular economy, it is imperative to establish high-quality recycling systems that ensure the secondary raw materials produced can successfully replace virgin materials. Achieving this requires maintaining a clean and high-quality material stream, making efficient sorting a crucial first step towards high-quality recycling.
This paper emphasises the importance of understanding the sortability of biodegradable plastics as a key factor in enhancing their material recycling potential.
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*Several material recycling technologies are available for biodegradable plastics; however, this is not the topic of this paper.
**The European Commission, through their CBE-JU funding, is already supporting numerous projects relating to the recycling of bioplastics, including biodegradable plastics.