Dear Colleagues,

The growing global demand for sustainable, ecologically compatible materials as replacements for petroleum-derived materials in packaging, hygiene and other applications is of the highest importance. Current non-biobased systems generate significant land and ocean pollution; this undergirds the need for environmentally benign, sustainable materials within a new construct, i.e., the circular economy. Although materials obtained from different biobased resources are receiving significant attention from the research community, they have not made great inroads at the industrial scale due to the lack of economic feasibility and contradictory life cycle assessment reports, compared to synthetic polymers. However, mandates for sustainability and recent changes in national governmental policies and regulations include banning single-use plastic products, as observed in sweeping reforms in Europe, Asia, and several US States, are forcing industries and consumers to find alternative, sustainable solutions.

One of the most significant repercussions of the recent COVID-19 pandemic was the generation of significant amounts of waste due to an immense increase in online delivery numbers, especially in the food industry, which caused a proportionate increase in materials waste to the landfills. Biobased materials such as cellulose derivatives, starch, (poly)hydroxyalkenoates, proteins, etc. can derive huge ecological benefits and solve end-of-life issues associated with petroleum-derived compounds. This Special Issue aims to capture both sides of the coins of various biobased materials and their impact on the industry and society. This Special Issue seeks original contributions on the development of sustainable materials and their impact on the environment and circularity. Potential topics include but are not limited to recent developments in biobased materials for applications such as various grades of packaging, composites, coatings, hygiene, and flexible electronics.

Dr. Lokendra Pal
Dr. Preeti Tyagi
Prof. Dr. Lucian Lucia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biobased materials
• sustainable materials
• environment and circularity
• packaging
• composites
• coatings
• hygiene
• flexible electronics