Bioplastiche e sottoprodotti della vinificazione: sostenibilità ambientale ed economica

Plastics are the third most widespread material of human production on the planet, after steel and cement. In a prevalent way, are materials used in Construction and Buildings. In fact, the sector is the second in demanding for plastic materials, preceded by the packaging. This activates an industry that, in Europe, employs 1.5 million people for a marketplace of 355 billion euros a year. According to these data, taken from the latest report about plastics made by the Category Association, imagine a world without plastic is impossible. On the other hand, environmental issues related to disposal are one of the challenges that the European Community has proposed to win by 2030. If policies mainly attack the packaging sector, even the sectors in which the useful life is comparable to that of the building must take on the issue. For some years now, International Research has been focusing on the production of bioplastics, biodegradable and synthesized from biomass. These materials partially solve the issue of disposal, but they do not always respect the principles of sustainability in the production process. So, the prevailing orientation is to exploit biotechnologies, producing bioplastics by bacterial fermentation. The results are very encouraging, but they clash with some environmental problems related to the use of dangerous and highly toxic solvents. Furthermore, the use of sugary fermentation substrates has costs that are refl ected in the market price even in a large-scale production. The present contribution aims to take stock of the state of the art regarding the possibility of using fermentation substrates from the by-products of the wine industry, with a view to upcycling and circular economy, as well as assessing the possibility of using solvents less toxic while maintaining high material purity and industrial productivity in order to make the product economically competitive.