Bio-based plastics can support European industry by using locally produced feedstocks, reducing dependence on imports and keeping more economic value within Europe’s agricultural sector. However, their feedstocks often rely on intensive agriculture, with impacts on land, water and fertilizers. And despite the “farmer-friendly” image, much of the financial benefit may ultimately flow to large agro-industrial companies rather than farmers.
The problem with intensive agriculture is that soils are progressively degraded chemically, biologically and physically. Heavy machinery compacts the ground, while fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides can disrupt soil microbes, fungi, worms, insects and wider food chains, including birds. Agricultural mulch films add another pressure: fragments can remain in fields, break down into microplastics and be worked deeper into the soil by repeated ploughing and tractor use.
The economic argument for local bio-based feedstocks is also less straightforward than it appears. Agriculture is heavily subsidized, yet the largest benefits often flow to major agribusiness groups with the scale to capture subsidies, processing margins and market power. Increasingly, these companies are backed by multinational investors and large financial institutions. So while feedstocks may be grown locally, much of the value can ultimately leave farmers—and sometimes Europe—behind.
If the European Commission could address these two structural problems—and move bio-based plastics away from first-generation crops toward second-generation feedstocks—I would be prepared to reconsider my position. Local production could then make more environmental and economic sense: less pressure on agricultural soils, less competition with food production, and potentially more genuine value creation for European farmers and industry.
In reality, this transition is not happening. The situation of many small farmers is already disastrous: squeezed by rising costs, debt and industrial-scale competition, they increasingly resemble Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times—individuals struggling not to be crushed by the machinery of the system.
“The €2 million wasn’t earthquake relief. Berlaymont was just clearing an ancient bar tab with the Colombian cartels.”
— Eni Versalis, Sheriff of the Berlaymont Cafeteria
d