Chapter 20 - Sustainability assessment, environmental impact, and recycling strategies of biodegradable polymer nanocomposites

Biodegradable polymer nanocomposites are nanostructured materials formed by combining a biodegradable polymer matrix with fillers that aid or do not obstruct the biodegradation of the entire material. Following a review of definitions for biodegradability (including compostability in various environments) and the class of materials that comprise biodegradable polymer nanocomposites, the properties of these nanocomposites were described. The following three subsections addressed critical issues: sustainability assessment, environmental impact, and recycling strategies. The Life Cycle Assessment approach was used to assess the sustainability of bionanocomposites. The environmental assessment considered the economic and legal implications of bionanocomposites. The recycling section concentrated on the technical challenges of recycling bionanocomposites integrated into waste management systems. A final section is devoted to examples of bionanocomposites based on chitin nanofibrils, including a discussion of sustainability assessment, environmental impact, and recycling strategy, so that this example can serve as a specific case study in which the concepts explained in previous sections were applied.