The wide range of applications, ranging from clothing to medicine, electronics, and packaging, coupled with the low cost, have made plastic materials essential in modern day life. Historically, plastic products have been designed following a traditional linear model of use and disposal, rather than incorporating the concept of a circular life cycle. This has driven the accumulation of plastic and microplastic in the biosphere, creating a direct threat to human health. Single Use Plastic (SUP) makes up 50 % of plastic litter in the seas and oceans, becoming the focus of the European Union's efforts to tackle this problem, which has led to a ban on several SUP products. Still, the major end-use market for plastics is packaging, accounting for 39 % of the plastic used in the EU (estimated in 2022). The packaging industry heavily relies on fossil-based polymers (83 % of all packing in 2022 in EU ) due to the unmatched properties-to-cost ratio when compared to other bio-based sources. More specifically for food packaging, petroleum-based plastic such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) provide inexpensive starting material with simple processability and high barrier properties towards moisture (PE/PP) and oxygen and carbon dioxide (PET), fundamental to prolonging the shelf-life of certain products. The European plastic industry has set the goal of reaching circularity and net-zero emissions by 2050. That will require a shift from fossil-based feedstock towards more sustainable alternatives, including bio-based materials, which will be pivotal in the transition to a green and sustainable bio-economy. Polylactide (PLA) is a common example of a bio-based polyester that has reached production at an industrial scale and wide use as packaging material. Still, its barrier performance, mainly in terms of Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) remains inferior to PE. Despite the possible difference in crystallinity, PLA is constructed on shortchain monomers, leading to a high ester-to-mass ratio, which contributes to its polarity and ultimately to its hydrophilicity. Exploiting longer monomers would be an alternative to obtain a molecular structure similar to PE, with expected improvements in hydrophobicity and thermal stability of the packaging material. Nature has designed two long-chain polyesters that function as a protective hydrophobic layer in plants and trees, namely cutin and suberin. They act as a physical barrier in leaves, roots, and bark, where they participate in regulating the moisture and gas exchange to the environment. They could become a renewable feedstock for biodegradable polyesters , using the side streams from the food and forestry industry as sources for cutin and suberin. The exploitation of a by-product promotes responsible consumption and production, while a potential reduction of fossil-based packaging would help to alleviate marine pollution. As a result, such polyester would align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 12 and 14.