Policy and reports

Plastic materials are widely used in agricultural applications to achieve food security for the growing world population. The use of biodegradable instead of non-biodegradable polymers in single-use agricultural applications, including plastic mulching, promises to reduce plastic accumulation in the environment. This report by researchers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have now identified an alternative: films made of the polymer PBAT biodegrade in soils.

This report, commissioned by TIPA and compiled by Ricardo Energy, reviews the current opportunities and barriers for the use of compostable packaging across the EU through a range of desk-based research and structured interviews.

This study quantifies the environmental and economic consequences of diverting municipal food waste and wastewater sewage sludge from traditional management to the biorefinery-based production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in five geographical regions.

Pesticides are applied in large quantities to agroecosystems worldwide. To date, few studies assessed the occurrence of pesticides in organically managed agricultural soils, and it is unresolved whether these pesticide residues affect soil life. This comprehensive study demonstrates that pesticides are a hidden reality in agricultural soils, and our results suggest that they have harmful effects on beneficial soil life.

A Bill for an Act to restrict and prohibit the manufacture, production, distribution, sale and supply of certain single-use and other plastic products and for other purposes.

This release relates to the collection and management of waste under the possession or control of local authorities in England. It covers three principal measures:’waste from households’, local authority collected waste and household waste. This release was delayed due to reporting difficulties experienced by some local authorities during the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020.

The Dasgupta review is an independent report into the relationship between nature and economics, written by Professor Partha Dasgupta. The review demonstrates that in order to judge whether the path of economic development we choose to follow is sustainable, nations need to adopt a system of economic accounts that records an inclusive measure of their wealth.

Within the framework of Bioplastics Europe and the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics reviews recent results of the literature on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA) regarding the ecological impacts of alternative and innovative feedstocks for the production of bio-based and biodegradable polymers.

This American Chemistry Society publication evaluates the potential circularity of PET, PE, and PP flows in Europe based on dynamic material flow analysis (MFA), considering product lifetimes, demand growth rates, and quality reductions of recycled plastic (downcycling).

This review from the Royal Society of Chemistry summarises recent advances and opportunities to utilise polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as a biodegradable substitute in some applications where non-biodegradable and petroleum-based plastics are currently used.

Departing from the assumption that the public attitude is a determining factor in the consumption of plastics as a whole and bioplastics in particular, this paper sheds some light on the current situation, identifying some trends and information gaps which should be addressed in order to encourage a more rational use of plastics in Europe.

Within the framework of Bioplastics Europe and the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics has published a paper analysing the future market perspectives for biodegradable bio-based plastics
at the global and the European level.