This case study evaluates biodegradable alternatives to conventional plastic cement packaging using advanced decision-making models. It highlights that while sustainable materials outperform environmentally, cost remains the biggest barrier to adoption.
The cement industry, a highly resource-intensive sector, continues to rely heavily on synthetic plastic packaging such as polypropylene bags, which account for nearly one-quarter of global cement packaging and generate 1.2–1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually from over 30 billion bags. These materials persist for centuries, contributing to landfill overflow, marine pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in emerging economies where recycling rates remain below 10 per cent and waste management systems are underdeveloped. This growing environmental burden has accelerated the need for sustainable alternatives aligned with circular economy principles.
To address this challenge, the study evaluates biodegradable packaging options such as cornstarch-based materials, cellulose derivatives, jute, and sisal using an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework. By combining Entropy and CRITIC weighting methods with TOPSIS, VIKOR and PROMETHEE II ranking models, the research assesses materials across key parameters including biodegradability, recyclability, lifecycle impact, durability, and cost efficiency. This structured approach enables a balanced comparison between environmental benefits and industrial feasibility.
The findings consistently identify cornstarch-based packaging as the top-performing alternative, delivering approximately 25 per cent to 30 per cent better performance on biodegradability and lifecycle indicators compared to other materials. It ranked first across multiple evaluation methods due to its strong environmental profile and balanced performance across criteria, followed by cotton and jute, while cellulose-based plastics performed poorly due to high costs and limited biodegradability effectiveness.
However, the study highlights a critical barrier: cost dominance in decision-making. Using the Entropy method, cost received the highest weight (0.651), more than 50 times higher than strength (0.013), clearly indicating that economic considerations outweigh environmental benefits in material selection. Even with the CRITIC method, cost remained the most influential factor (0.265), reinforcing that financial feasibility is the primary constraint preventing large-scale adoption of biodegradable packaging in the cement industry.
The research concludes that while biodegradable packaging offers strong potential to reduce environmental impact and support circular economy goals, widespread adoption will depend on policy support and economic incentives. Measures such as subsidies, tax benefits and regulatory clarity are essential to bridge the gap between sustainability goals and operational realities, ensuring that packaging transitions contribute not only to immediate efficiency but also to long-term environmental responsibility and intergenerational justice.
This case study by Mehedi Hasan Shanta, Tasfia Tanha, Md. Mustaqim Roshid, Roman Meinhold, Ricardo Marcão, Vasco Santos, Filipa Martinho and Abdul Waaje, appears in the journal ‘Discover Sustainability,’ which is an open-access academic journal published by Springer Nature.
