A novel enzymatic biodegradable route for PLA/EVA blends under agricultural soil of Vietnam

Poly lactic acid (PLA) has attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of its good properties such as high transparency, high tensile strength and excellent biodegradability. However, high modulus and low strain are its shortage, making it unfeasible to be applied as packaging materials. To overcome this limitation, in this study, PLA is mixed with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The morphological, thermal and mechanical properties of the enzymatically degraded PLA/EVA blends were fully investigated under agricultural soil of Red River Delta, Vietnam. It was demonstrated that some new strains were responsible for the biodegradation of PLA/EVA. To best of our knowledge, these strains were not reported in the literature up to now. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.