End of life of biodegradable plastics: composting vs. re/upcycling.

Nowadays the issues related to the end-of-life of traditional plastics are very urgent due to the important pollution problems that plastics have caused. Biodegradable plastics can help to try to mitigate these problems, but even bioplastics need a great attention to carefully evaluate the different options for plastic waste disposing. In this paper three different end-of-life scenarios (composting, recycling and upcycling) are evaluated in terms of literature review. As a result, the ability of bioplastics to be biodegraded by composting has been related to physical variables and materials characteristics. Hence, it is possible to deduce that the process is mature enough to be a good way to minimize bioplastic waste and valorize it for the production of a fertilizer. Recycling and upcycling options, which could open up many interesting new scenarios for the production of high value materials, are less studied. Research in this area can be strongly encouraged.