Alternative Sustainable Biodegradable Plastic Packaging Material for the Philippines

Abstract

Plastic packaging material plays a vital role in people’s daily lives, and it is a fact that most of which are petroleum-based like the ones being used in the Philippines. This type of plastic is very strong, less brittle, but non-biodegradable that would take hundreds of years before it decays. Due to this concern, this research assessed the existing sustainable, biodegradable plastic packaging material which can be a substitute for the petroleum-based plastics. This research identified various alternatives, namely: polylactic acid, nanocomposites, nanotechnology, and modified atmosphere. To have an optimal alternative plastic packaging material among which is selected through the application of Pareto-Optimization as the multi-criteria decision-making tool, it considered the following valuable factors in choosing an optimal plastic packaging material, namely: economic, durability, safety, environmental and biodegradability. The preferred alternative was the polylactic acid, which is primarily made from starch. This alternative was subjected for comparative analysis with the existing material, the petroleum-based plastic, and to the supply and demand analysis to check the abundance of supply of starch to supply the demand for single-use plastics in the Philippines which proves that Polylactic acid is an alternative sustainable, biodegradable plastic packaging material for the Philippines.