Strategies towards home compostable PLA products

Samenvatting

Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR) has been working in the field of biodegradable and bio-based products for over 30 years. Expertise ranges from polymer synthesis, compounding, polymer processing and products development to end-of-life options such as recycling (mechanical, chemical and enzymatic) and biodegradation. In this respect WFBR has been working on the development of PLA-based products for almost 2 decades. Since then it has become one of the most mature biobased and compostable polymers, attributed to a combination of the relatively cheap production process, interesting physical properties and its recognised biodegradability in thermophilic conditions. Its application window could be further expanded if PLA could be made intrinsically biodegradable also in mesophilic (ambient) conditions. In this presentation we will discuss our findings looking into various approaches to enhance the biodegradation of PLA in soil or home composting conditions. Insights regarding strategies such as polymer blending and the use of prodegradant additives will be presented.