Sustainable packaging one step closer to commercialisation

The PlantPack project, coordinated by the PRA, has successfully developed a natural and sustainable spray coating to solve the challenge of providing food protection which meets increasing environmental pressures regarding municipal disposal.

Food packaging waste has reached around 45 million tonnes per year in Europe, with more than one third going into household bins and ending up in landfill. The demand for biodegradable packaging, which is simple and cost effective to produce, has been met by the PlantPack Project. Its spray coating based on starch and seaweed has created packaging which is naturally derived, biodegradable, and recyclable.

Michael Morris, project manager of the PRA, says, “Existing packaging has a number of limitations, namely the petrochemical derived polymers which are often used as a base. These not only prevent recycling but are based on oil which is of course expensive. Other coating materials, such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are causing health concerns whilst the European Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste is promoting change. It was therefore clear that a solution needed to not only be found but rapidly progressed towards commercialisation.

The project is now in the final months of its two-year timescale and is beginning to consider the commercialisation of the coating.