Plastic shopping bags are responsible for a great deal of marine and land pollution and cause the death of wildlife including birds, whales, seals and turtles as they ingest the bags. Plastic decomposes over a long period – between 20 to 1000 years. For these reasons, in most of the European countries, plastic bags are banned or restricted in their use. A sustainable alternative is bioplastic shopping bags derived from thistle, which can be reused for organic waste collection. Meanwhile, biodegradable mulching film from thistle is an agronomically and environmentally efficient application. It is completely biodegradable in the soil and therefore it does not have to be collected and disposed of at the end of the crop cycle.