Nowadays, plastic contamination worldwide is a concerning reality that can be addressed with appropriate society education as well as looking for innovative polymeric alternatives based on the reuse of waste and recycling with a circular economy point of view, thus taking into consideration that a future world without plastic is quite impossible to conceive. In this regard, in this review, we focus on sustainable polymeric materials, biodegradable and bio-based polymers, additives, and micro/nanoparticles to be used to obtain new environmentally friendly polymeric-based materials. Although biodegradable polymers possess poorer overall properties than traditional ones, they have gained a huge interest in many industrial sectors due to their inherent biodegradability in natural environments. Therefore, several strategies have been proposed to improve their properties and extend their industrial applications. Blending strategies, as well as the development of composites and nanocomposites, have shown promising perspectives for improving their performances, emphasizing biopolymeric blend formulations and bio-based micro and nanoparticles to produce fully sustainable polymeric-based materials. The Review also summarizes recent developments in polymeric blends, composites, and nanocomposite plasticization, with a particular focus on naturally derived plasticizers and their chemical modifications to increase their compatibility with the polymeric matrices. The current state of the art of the most important bio-based and biodegradable polymers is also reviewed, mainly focusing on their synthesis and processing methods scalable to the industrial sector, such as melt and solution blending approaches like melt-extrusion, injection molding, film forming as well as solution electrospinning, among others, without neglecting their degradation processes.

The present work analyzes the influence of modified, epoxidized and maleinized corn oil as a plasticizing and/or compatibilizing agent in the PLA–PHB blend (75% PLA and 25% PHB wt.%). The chemical modification processes of corn oil were successfully carried out and different quantities were used, between 0 and 10% wt.%. The different blends obtained were characterized by thermal, mechanical, morphological, and disintegration tests under composting conditions. It was observed that to achieve the same plasticizing effect, less maleinized corn oil (MCO) is needed than epoxidized corn oil (ECO). Both oils improve the ductile properties of the PLA–PHB blend, such as elongation at break and impact absorb energy, however, the strength properties decrease. The ones that show the highest ductility values are those that contain 10% ECO and 5% MCO, improving the elongation of the break of the PLA–PHB blend by more than 400% and by more than 800% for the sample PLA.

This present work introduces a novel strategy combining nanoparticles from thymus vulgaris (nT) infusion waste, incorporated at 1 wt% and 3 wt%, with maleinized corn oil (MCO) as a natural plasticizer into PLA-PHB blend (75 wt% PLA, 25 wt% PHB) The materials were processed by micro-extrusion into films intended for sustainable and biodegradable active packaging applications. Nanoparticle formulation with 3 wt% showed high variation in tensile properties compared to MCO blend with 41% and 75% decrease in tensile strength and elongation at break respectively, otherwise both nanoparticles’ formulations still exhibit increase on ductile reaching 74% and 49% for 1–3 wt% on elongation at break compared with neat PLA. Plasticizer effect of MCO and interaction of nT nanoparticles with the blend was confirmed by calorimetric analysis, showing T_g 15% and 9% decrease for 1–3 wt% respectively. Results of colour and UV characterization suggest that the films could interfere with light incidence while maintaining high transparency. During composting test, it was observed that the addition of nanoparticles delayed the degradation grade, although all samples were composted within 30 days. Furthermore, the nanoparticles improved the oxygen barrier properties of developed films, leading to a reduction of above 40% for both nanoparticles’ formulations in OTR-e values. In addition, nanoparticles highly increased antioxidant activity with 67% and 75% for 1–3 wt%, interesting findings to develop sustainable, biodegradable and active materials for food packaging applications.

In this work, yerba mate (nYM) and black tea (nBT) nanoparticles were extracted from Ilex paraguariensis and Camellia sinensis , respectively. Unlike traditional biocomposites and additives, this approach valorizes the waste of infusion beverages without using chemical compounds. Nanoparticles underwent preliminary TGA analysis, showing stable and high degradation temperature, making them suitable for processing with the selected polymer matrix. Subsequently, they were incorporated into the selected PLA (75%)–PHB (25%) blend plasticized with maleinized corn oil (MCO) at a concentration of 1–3 wt.%. Tensile characterization of the PLA‐PHB blend plasticized with MCO showed an improvement in compatibility between polymers, with increased ductility. The plasticizing effect of MCO was confirmed by calorimetric analysis, showing a remarkable decrease in T _g value. The combination of MCO and nanoparticles continues to exhibit enhanced thermal stability, showing functional nanofiller behavior. Moreover, the presence of nanoparticles enhanced the barrier property of the plasticized films toward oxygen barrier properties, reducing the OTR‐ e values. Finally, during the second half of the composting test, it was observed that nanoparticle addition delayed the degradation process; otherwise, it continued showing interesting biodegradable properties. These findings open multiple possibilities in the combined use of infusion beverage waste nanoparticles and modified vegetable oils to develop sustainable packaging applications.