The challenges of bioplastics in waste management

Although they still represent less than 0.5% of global plastics production (European Bioplastics, 2023), compostable bioplastics are found everywhere, and their amount is constantly growing. They differ from conventional plastics because of their potential to degrade under industrial composting operations, and in addition they can be made from biogenic feedstocks, even if this is not always the case. Today, in addition to bags, any kind of packaging as well as several products, can be made of compostable bioplastics: films wrapping fresh fruit, containers for vegetables or icecream, pasta pillow bags, packages for frozen vegetables, coffee capsules and pods, butter packs, soft cheese wrappers, cotton buds sticks, packs for paper towels, napkins or toilet paper. As for their management at the end of the useful life, the 2018/851 European Directive indicates: ‘Member States may allow waste with similar biodegradability and compostability properties which complies with relevant European standards or any equivalent national standards for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation, to be collected together with bio-waste’. Accordingly, a continuously growing amount of compostable bioplastics has to be managed together with the organic waste in biological treatment plants that are not originally designed for their handling.