Bio-Based Plastics: Challenge or Reality? Perspectives and Constraints of Their Exploitation as Sustainable Alternative to Fossil Plastics

Bio-based plastics are an emerging alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics, offering numerous advantages as they come from renewable resources, reducing the dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels, the carbon footprint, and at the same time, the pollution derived from the post-used fossil plastics accumulation in landfills and oceans. For the above reasons, bio-based plastics can be considered eco-friendly materials suitable for several applications, from packaging to automo-tive to biomedical industries. However, the high production costs and the lack of consistent composting and biodegradation standards are significant drawbacks to academic and industrial acceptance of bioplastics as a valid sustainable alternative to fossil-based counterparts. Indeed, bio-based plastics require specific conditions for composting or biodegradation and are often mistakenly placed in recycling bins or sent to landfill, where they may not biodegrade properly, thus contaminating the waste stream. The previous awareness prevents the bioplastics transition from chal-lenging to consolidated reality. This paper delves into a comprehensive analysis of the scientific and economic topics concerning bio-based plastics exploitation, with a specific focus on polylactic acid, PLA, as a study case. Experimental trials of PLA degradation in different environments will be considered together with the current constraints mainly ascribable to its post-using phase.