ABSTRACT Public opinion becomes gradually more aware and sensitive to environmental issues especially in terms of using plastic material for packaging applications. Synthetic polymers tend to occupy a great share of the food packaging market and have become omnipresent, after their discarding, due to their recalcitrant behavior. Two of the most important approaches to solving this environmental problem reside in recycling/reuse the discarded materials and in designing novel biodegradable or modifying natural polymers. Both approaches have gained in popularity but due to their relatively high cost have not got a unanimous approval yet. Recycling/composting tends to be considered a more promising avenue but its main drawback resides in difficulties related to effective sorting the various materials, many times encountered as composites.
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