Shellworks Group Ltd

The pervasive issue of plastic pollution, which is now being recognised as a defining marker of the Anthropocene, poses a severe and far-reaching threat to ecosystems and the livelihoods dependent on them. Amidst this pressing challenge, the adoption of home-compostable materials plays a pivotal role, particularly for complex, hard-to-recycle packaging fo...

Plastic pollution poses a pressing global issue. With annual production exceeding 380 million tonnes and a growth rate of 4% per year (Rosenboom\_et\_al.,\_2022), the problem demands immediate attention. Packaging stands out as the primary contributor, accounting for 42% of primary plastics usage in 2015 (ourworldindata.org). Furthermore, the plastic indu...

Plastic waste is now so widespread that researchers have suggested it could be used as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene. The plastic pollution crisis is a serious threat to ecosystems worldwide as well as the livelihoods depending on them. Dealing with plastic pollution also imposes heavy costs on public budgets. **Home-compostable materials are...

The severity of the plastic pollution problem world-wide is undeniable. It is estimated that more than 8bn tonnes of virgin plastic has been produced since the 1950s(Geyer,Jambeck,Law\_2017). Of the global plastic waste generated so far, an estimated 10% has been recycled, 14% incinerated and the remaining 76% has ended up in landfills, dumps or the natur...

Plastic production continues to grow exponentially from 1.5 million tonnes annually in 1950 to 359 million tonnes a year in 2018\. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12 billion Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050\. Plastic waste has a devastating impact on marine and terrestrial l...

Annual global plastic production reached 438 million metric tonnes in 2017 (Geyer\_2020). Each year, it is estimated that at least 8 million metric tonnes of plastic waste reaches our oceans, where it degrades slowly over hundreds of years to produce harmful microplastics (Jambeck\_et\_al\_2015). The global damage to marine ecosystem services from marine ...