ABSTRACT
The present contribution is aimed at highlighting the role of compostable polymeric materials in food packaging applications with a specific focus on items based on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as major components.
In the middle of the current plastic age, which has reached nowadays an overall annual world production and consumption of 400 million tons with a growing outlook of reaching 1 billion tons in the year 2050, there is a deep concern regarding the destiny of short-life plastic commodities at the end of their service life.
In that respect, food packaging based on polymeric films and containers is under serious scrutiny for a growing push towards the use of polymeric materials susceptible to being biodegraded in industrial and home composting facilities into water, carbon dioxide, and cell biomass.
PHA-based formulates appear to hold structural and functional characteristics which meet the criteria for safe environmental management of the plastic items derived therefrom at the end of their service life.
In order to provide a comprehensive view on the key role that PHA are going to play in the design and applications of plastic items widely utilized in food packaging that are safely manageable at the end of their service life, the following aspects are treated in the following relevant sections:
