The proliferation of petroleum-derived plastics has led to environmental concerns, prompting the exploration of sustainable alternatives. This study deals with the development of natural polymeric composite materials that can be used as alternatives to conventional plastics. In particular, biocomposite films were prepared by hot pressing a blend of carrot pomace (CP) with 10, 30 and 50 wt% of two vegetable proteins: wheat gluten (Gn) and zein (Z), for the optimization of the final properties of the developed biomaterials. The resulting composites exhibit improved physicochemical, morphological, and thermal properties and provide enhanced water resistance compared to CP-only bioplastics, while in particular, the ones prepared with Gn, exhibited also improved optical and mechanical properties, making Gn composites best candidates for a larger number of applications. Further optimization was achieved by adding 10 wt % polyglycerol plasticizer to the CP-50 wt% Gn composites, resulting in even better mechanical and oxygen barrier properties. These biocomposites show great potential for food packaging, offering mechanical resistance (elastic modulus of 244.9 +/- 25.3 MPa and tensile strength of 10.1 +/- 0.7 MPa), flexibility (elongation at break of 24.7 +/- 5.7%), high transparency and optical clarity, effective UVblocking in the 200-350 nm range, excellent antioxidant activity (3.4 mu mol Trolox/g) and water vapor (1.3 x 10-9 g s-1 m- 1 Pa-1) and oxygen (296.1 +/- 1 cm3 mu m m- 2 day-1 atm- 1) barrier properties. Additionally, they exhibit low migration of components into food simulants (6.7 +/- 0.6 mg dm-2) and fast biodegradation in soil (83% after 30 days). The findings reported in this manuscript motivate the adoption of eco-friendly materials and represent a significant step towards a sustainable future.

来源平台：FOOD HYDROCOLLOIDS