Jose Maria Lagaron

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on developing a circular economy in agriculture.The first chapter discusses the relationship between a circular economy and bioeconomy as they relate to agriculture, as well as the key principles and challenges of circular, closed-loop agricultural systems.The second chapter introduces new approaches to food production and ‘waste’ management, including the opportunity to partially close nutrient cycles in urban agricultural settings and the wider food system.The third chapter provides a brief overview of the key principles of a circular economy and discusses how the advent of new alternatives to plastic food packaging can contribute to mitigating plastic waste and its environmental impact.The fourth chapter discusses facility-based plant production systems, such as plant factories, and the importance of the circulation of materials in achieving a sustainable balance between food production and environmental protection.The final chapter considers how regenerative urban agri-food systems can be built through a circular economy approach and provides examples of how this can be achieved, as well as how novel natural resource networks can be created in circular food economies in urban areas.

The pioneering guide on the design, processing, and testing of antimicrobial plastic materials and coatings The manifestation of harmful microbes in plastic materials used in medical devices and drugs, water purification systems, hospital equipment, textiles, and food packaging pose alarming health threats to consumers by exposing them to many serious infectious diseases. As a result, high demand for intensifying efforts in the R&D of antimicrobial polymers has placed heavy reliance on both academia and industry to find viable solutions for producing safer plastic materials. To assist researchers and students in this endeavor, Antimicrobial Polymers explores coupling contaminant-deterring biocides and plastics—focusing particular attention on natural biocides and the nanofabrication of biocides. Each chapter is devoted to addressing a key technology employed to impart antimicrobial behavior to polymers, including chemical modification of the polymers themselves. A host of relevant topics, such as regulatory matters, human safety, and environmental risks are covered to help lend depth to the book's vital subject matter. In addition, Antimicrobial Polymers: Discusses the design, processing, and testing of antimicrobial plastic materials Covers interdisciplinary areas of chemistry and microbiology Includes applications in food packaging, medical devices, nanotechnology, and coatings Details regulations from the U.S. (FDA and EPA) and EU as well as human safety and environmental concerns Achieving cleaner and more effective methods for improving the infection-fighting properties of versatile and necessary plastic materials is a goal that stretches across many scientific fields. Antimicrobial Polymers combines all of this information into one volume, exposing readers to preventive strategies that harbor vast potential for making exposure to polymeric products and surfaces a far less risky undertaking in the future.