Biodegradability of Conventional Plastics: Opportunities, Challenges, and Misconceptions

Biodegradability of Conventional Plastics: Opportunities, Challenges, and Misconceptions brings together innovative research into the biodegradability of conventional plastics, providing an extensive overview of approaches and strategies that may be implemented, while also highlighting other methods for alleviating the eventual environmental impact of plastics. The book begins by providing a lifecycle assessment of plastics, the environmental impact of plastic waste, and the factors that affect the biodegradability of plastics. The different categories and terminologies surrounding bio-based plastics and biodegradable plastics are then defined and explained in detail, as are the issues surrounding bioplastics. Other sections discuss biodegradability, approaches for enhanced biodegradability of various major types of plastics, including polyolefins, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride), automotive plastics and composites, and agricultural plastic waste. The final part of the book focuses on further techniques and emerging areas, including the utilization of chemical additives, nanomaterials, the role of microbes in terms of microbial degradation and microbial attaching, revalorization of plastic waste through industrial biotechnology, and future opportunities and challenges. Review A detailed guide to state-of-the-art methods to enhance the biodegradability of plastics About the Author Anjana Sarkar, Head of Department and Professor, Department of Chemistry, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi, India Prof. Anjana Sarkar is currently Head of the Department of Chemistry at Netaji Subhas University of Technology. With 37 years of teaching and research experience at Netaji Subhas University of Technology, she has published various papers in national and international journals. Prof. Sarkar completed an AICTE sponsored R&D project on ‘Ternary Complexes of Transition Metal Ions with Novel Biomolecular like Kojic Acid & L-Amino acid: Synthesis & Study of Physicochemical Properties and their Bio-efficacy’, and has been awarded “Woman of the Year 1998 by the American Biographical Institute, North Carolina, USA. Bhasha Sharma is a researcher at the Faculty of Technology of the University of Delhi, and a visiting faculty member at Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi, India. She has published several research publications in reputed international journals with more than nine book chapters. Her research interests revolve around sustainable polymers for packaging applications, environmental benign approaches for biodegradation of plastic wastes, fabrication of bionanocomposites, and finding strategies to ameliorate the electrochemical activity of biopolymers. Shashank Shekhar Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi, India Dr. Shashank Shekhar is currently an Assistant Professor at Netaji Subhas University of Technology and is also associated with the Quantum Research Centre of Excellence as Associate Director in the Department of Renewable Energy. He completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Delhi. Dr. Shekhar has been working on biopolymers and Schiff base metal complexes for the last 5 years and has published articles in reputed international journals. Shreya Sharma is a Research Assistant in the Department of Chemistry and, Biological Sciences and Engineering at the Netaji Subhas University of Technology, India. She is also part of Advanced Composite Research Group at Newcastle University, Singapore. Her areas of research interest include fabrication of bionanocomposites, environmentally benign methods for biodegradation of conventional plastic waste, plastic waste to energy conversion technologies, and drug designing of Schiff base metal complexes. She has broad research experience in polymer science, biomedical science, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, computational biolog