Production of bioplastics and sustainable packaging materials from rice straw to eradicate stubble burning: A Mini-Review

Abstract

India is the second-largest producer of rice, which plays an important role in the GDP of the nation, but the burning of rice straw is one of the most severe issues, which the country is facing. The government has tightly regulated this practice, and the farmers are usually advised to incorporate the residue in the soil, but this management option is minimal because of its slow degradation properties in the soil and may also foster rice diseases. A lot of lab-scale and commercial research studies have been conducted on rice straw-based nanocomposites, but rice straw-based bioplastic is a much superior latest technology that is not much explored. Only a few researchers have worked on making biodegradable bioplastic packaging materials from rice straw. The developed technology not only eradicates the pollution problems caused because of stubble burning but also resolves the problem of synthetic plastic packs, which is another major issue worldwide as 40% of the total plastic is used in food packaging. The current study is aimed to explore the feasibility of this agricultural residue to get converted into useful biodegradable packaging materials that can work for agroecological and sustainable development.