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Owing to the increasing global pollution due to the use of conventional plastic materials, biodegradable films and sheets have been given prominent importance owing to their efficiency in replacing traditional plastic materials. In the recent times, due to globalization and industrialization, the minimization of the use of synthetic petroleum-based materials has been in practice by the global community, and increase in the use of natural materials like biomass waste in place of traditional materials promoting the green and sustainable technology development. Such production of alternative biomaterials development from the lignocellulosic fiber-reinforced composite films and laminates has been seriously investigated by engineers, technologists, and materialists owing to their sustainability, renewability, low toxicity, and abundantly available. Banana is one among the largely consumed tropical crop globally which is due to the quantity of cultivation and the availability of calorific values in the fruit. It is also a fruit which is potentially rich in starch content with more than 65 % of starch. This banana starch can be considered as a potential material for the manufacturing of coating material, edible sheet, food preservation and packaging owing to its innocuous, less cost, and biodegradability. The application of banana starch is dictated by the functional, structural and physicochemical properties of the developed material. But an unmodified native banana starch may not be characterized with all the necessary properties for any customized application. In order to widen the application band of the banana starch, it has to be modified by using enzymes, chemical, and physical methods. This review comprehensively deals with the extraction and synthesis of banana starch from various sources, their modification, properties of the banana starch and its characterization. Some aspects regarding the hybridization of the banana starch with nanoparticles has also been given.

The growing consciousness about global environmental concerns, particularly landfills, in conjunction with the rapid use of petroleum-based plastics, is a key factor behind the use of natural and biodegradable polymers in short-life applications like food packaging, container, and tray. Sugar palm stem is a biomass that has proven the potential to produce biodegradable polymers such as sugar palm starch. Nevertheless, their applications were limited due to their low tensile strength and excessive hydrophilicity. Plasticization using polyols, reinforcement with sugar palm fiber, cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, or nanocellulose, blending with thermoplastic polymer, and addition of essential oils has been used to maximize the functional qualities of the starch biopolymer. As the content of plasticizers grew, the glass transition temperature and water absorption ability decreased. Furthermore, the addition of sugar palm nanocellulose to sugar palm starch improves the performances of sugar palm starch-based films as a packaging material. Addition of essential oil contributes to antibacterial properties and slightly improved tensile strength of the film. A comprehensive understanding on the interaction of starch-based biodegradable polymer and nanocellulose constituents for enhancing the physico-chemical properties of starch-based films is prerequisite for researchers in the design of industrial products with enhanced functional attributes. To address the knowledge gap, more studies including the reinforcement of new types of biodegradable polymer and nanocellulose derived from natural sources should be conducted in order to continually populate the database for research purposes.

Nanocellulose is a product of cellulose, a sustainable and plentiful resource. It’s distinctive nanoscale structure makes it a versatile, green and interesting material for a variety of applications. This article describes in detail the biosources of nanocellulose, the types and characteristics of nanocellulose, and the techniques used to produce nanocellulose fibers. The mechanical properties and morphologies of nanocellulose fibers are addressed in depth, along with their prospective applications in sectors, including paper packaging, building materials, composites, biomedicine, energy storage and filtration. In addition, the current state of nanocellulose research, including the opportunities in the field, as well as the future prospects of nanocellulose as a viable and sustainable material for a vast array of applications, are discussed.

Araucaria Araucana starch is a raw material with proven potential in obtaining biodegradable polymers. Plasticization improves the flexibility characteristics of starch-based films, however, they still tend to have low tensile strength and high hydrophilicity. The addition of nanocellulose is a technique to improve these characteristics. In this paper, the effects of adding different sources and concentrations of nanocellulose (NC) on the properties of thermoplastic Araucaria Araucana films are addressed. One can highlight, the main effects are the increase of tensile strength and transparency of the films along with the reduction of water vapor permeability and water solubility. Further studies involving the reinforcement of Araucaria Araucana starch and nanocellulose should be conducted to overcome the lack of information.

Bio-based materials must be studied to replace polymers from petrochemical sources in packaging applications. However, using polymers from petrochemical sources has caused consumer and environmental concerns. Therefore, synthetic and non-synthetic materials that can be used for packaging applications, scale-up methods, industrial uses, sustainability assessments, and end-of-life alternatives will all be included in this study. Synthetic polymers, e.g., polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and non-synthetic polymers, including waxes, lipids, proteins, starch, cellulose, and polyhydrodialkanoate (PHAs), are some of the bio-based compounds that will be covered in this work. Besides that, more attention is paid to surface modification techniques and coatings, multilayers, biocomposites, and additives used to modify material characteristics, particularly gas and moisture barriers and biodegradability. In sum, this research offers a comprehensive analysis of bio-based packaging materials, including processing, and an assessment of sustainability and available alternatives.

The concerning issue regarding petrochemical plastic wastes had prompted scientists and researchers to develop biodegradable plastic in effort to tackle environmental pollution. Alternative bioresources such as poly (lactic acid), sugar palm starch and nanocellulose fibre were utilized in producing cheap, biodegradable and sustainable plastic with satisfactory mechanical properties for food packaging application. In this study, sugar palm crystalline nanocellulose (SPCNC) was priorly dispersed in thermoplastic sugar palm starch (TPS) before melt blended with poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and later compress moulded into a sheet form. Initial biodegradation test of PLA100 and all PLA/TPS blends bionanocomposite samples indicated that PLA60TPS40 has the least variation in weight loss due to the good miscibility between TPS and PLA promoting the reinforcement of SPCNC. Greater weight losses in seawater (17.54%), river water (18.97%) and sewer water (22.27%) result in greater mechanical degradation as observed at the reduction of tensile strength from 12.11 MPa to 2.72 MPa in seawater, 1.48 MPa in river water and 0.40 MPa in sewer water. Similarly, higher weight losses in seawater (22.16%), river water (21.6%) and sewer water (23.09%) correlated with the reduction of flexural strength from 18.37 MPa to 3.5 MPa in seawater, 3.83 MPa in river water and 3.6 MPa in sewer water. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of tensile fracture morphology demonstrated clear porous structure due to the removal of starch particles by microbial activity. The homogenous structure of PLA60TPS40 had a steady and consistent degradation, which wholly diminished the interfacial adhesion that led to mechanical properties losses. The mechanical strength reduction clarified that the biodegradation rate within the media used might be able to resolve the excessive non-biodegradable plastic waste in open waters.