INSTITUTUL NAÅ¢IONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE - ICECHIM

1 Bioresources and biomaterials - PBIO-BASED POLYMERIS FOR NON-TOXIC BIODEGRADABLEPACKAGING MATERIALSMadalina ZANOAGA, Fulga TANASA“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iasi, Romania41 A Grigore Ghica Voda Alley, Iasi, RomaniaThe need for packaging can be linked to the progress of civilization and need topreserve perishables for longer period of time. Conventional plastics are produced startingfrom oil, are not recyclable and, usually, end up in landfill sites or uncontrolled into theenvironment, where they remain up to 1000 years to degrade, generating toxic waste.Therefore, there is a great need to develop environment friendly biodegradable packagingmaterials which do not cause environmental pollution. Biodegradable packaging materialsneither promote any waste disposal problems, nor affect the trade and safety of products.Bio-based packaging materials are obtained from renewable agricultural resources.Biodegradable polymers made from cellulose and starches (i.e., amylose, hydroxylpropylatedstarch and dextrin) have been used for decades. As well as polylactide, polyhydroxyalkanoate(PHA), polyhydroxybuterate (PHB), and a copolymer of PHB and valeric acid (PHB/V).Films derived from plant and animal sources such as zein (corn protein), whey (milk protein),collagen (constituent of skin, tendon, and connective tissue), and gelatin (product of partialhydrolysis of collagen) are also of high interest. Synthetic polymers can also be madepartially degradable by blending them with biopolymers, incorporating biodegradablecomponents (such as starches), or adding bioactive compounds.This paper analyses some aspects concerning the bio-based packaging materials, suchas variation of properties during storage, degradation rate under specific conditions, release oftoxic by-products, etc. Taking into consideration these criteria, the suitability of bio-basedpolymers from agricultural resources to be used as packaging materials will be assessed.