Agricultural waste as a source of innovative and compostable composite biopolymers for food packaging: a scientific review

The recovery of agriculture waste is one of the challenges of 2030 Agenda. Food and Agriculture Organization states that 30 % of the world's agricultural land is used to produce food that is later lost or wasted, and the global carbon footprint corresponds to 7% of total greenhouse gases emissions. Alternatively, natural fibers contained in food and agricultural waste could be a valuable feedstock to reinforce composite biopolymers contributing to increase mechanical properties. In addition, the use of biopolymers matrix could contribute significantly to reduce the environmental footprint of the biobased compounds. Based on these premises, a regional project in Emilia-Romagna, aims to enhance agricultural waste to produce food packaging materials which in turn would contribute to the reduction of green raw materials used. This article reviews the state of art of composite biopolymers added with fillers extracted by food and agricultural waste, analyzing the literature published on scientific databases such as Scopus. The characteristics, advantages and drawbacks of each innovative sustainable material will be studied, trying to compare their various properties. The results of the work could guide companies in the choice of eco-sustainable packaging and lay the foundations for the development of the mentioned regional project.