{"id":8180,"date":"2019-05-23T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T07:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/?p=8180"},"modified":"2019-05-23T09:34:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T07:34:53","slug":"biodegradable-plastics-for-agriculture-life-multibiosol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/biodegradable-plastics-for-agriculture-life-multibiosol\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodegradable plastics for agriculture – LIFE Multibiosol Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic has become fundamental in agriculture. The total consumption of plastic films for agricultural purposes in Europe exceeded 500.000 metric tons in 2013. Existing semi-intensive and intensive farming practices require the use of large quantities of plastic mulching film<\/strong> and fruit protection bags<\/strong> (and clips<\/strong> to close them) as they help prevent the growth of weeds, protect crops from insects, regulate soil, create a beneficial micro-climate and retain water and nutrients. However, this plastic is not usually recycled (since it is time-consuming and expensive), but rather burned or buried in soil, causing extreme environmental damage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"multibiocol-serra\"<\/a>LIFE MULTIBIOSOL, a project co-funded by the European Union, aimed to develop a new bioplastic film made from renewable, raw materials that are not petroleum-based<\/strong>. AITIIP Technological Centre\u00a0teamed up with\u00a0CAA, Transfer Consultancy, PCTAD, EEAD-CSIC, ARCHA, and GroenCreatie\u00a0to\u00a0develop solutions (mulching film, fruit protection bags & clips) that are both technically and economically viable.. 3 bioplastics (black mulching film, red and white fruit protection bags) were developed, all of which have obtained the OK Biodegradable Soil Certification.<\/p>\n

\"multibiosol-1\"<\/p>\n

Over the course of 3 years, the developed bioplastics were rigorously tested in both laboratory and field environments. Results indicate that the products are easy to apply, require no removal from the field post-harvest, and upon biodegrading into the soil they contribute important nutrients for improved plant and soil health. Overall the project addressed and achieved the following objectives<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Elimination of waste management\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Our biodegradable plastics break down naturally on land (with OK biodegradable SOIL certification) so removal and transportation of the waste is no longer needed. Costs of management for farmers\/growers and the environmental problems associated with landfills and incineration are therefore eradicated<\/span><\/p>\n

Development of new biodegradable plastics films with a very low carbon footprint impact<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The advanced bioplastics developed in this project have a significantly lower Co<\/span>2<\/sub> footprint than conventional plastics since our biodegradable polymers and additives are made from renewable raw materials that are not petro-based.<\/span><\/p>\n

Improvement of soil and product quality<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Multibiosol bioplastics not only avoid the toxic components present in conventional agricultural films, they also add value through Oligo Elements (trace minerals as natural fertilizers) and micro-perforation functionalities that contribute to agriculture \u00e0 la carte and help improve the health of the soil and the quality of the final product.<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about the project in detail, download the<\/span> Layman\u2019s Report<\/a>. For more information about the project and the advanced bioplastics produced, visit our<\/span> website\u00a0<\/a>or contact us directly at<\/span> projects@transferconsultancy.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"multibiosol-logo\"<\/p>\n

Text by\u00a0Priya Devasirvatham<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic has become fundamental in agriculture. The total consumption of plastic films for agricultural purposes in Europe exceeded 500.000 metric tons in 2013. Existing semi-intensive and intensive farming practices require…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,10,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8180"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8216,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8180\/revisions\/8216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}