Significant Innovators of Sustainable Packaging for Food

The food and drink (F&B) segment is one of the key contributors to the plastic dump. Rising regulations on single-use plastic and companies committing to reduce their carbon footprint have led to higher adoption of sustainable packaging solutions. F&B players have started to commit to eco-friendly packaging to tackle this plastic through collaboration and funding to startups, dedicated to developing sustainable packaging using waste materials. This article focuses on the top 5 innovative players committed to develop and introduce sustainable packaging applicable to food products.

Introduction

Non-degradable and packaging waste has negative environmental consequences that include:

Addition of carbon footprint
Entry in the food chain through seafood or soil absorption, which may/may not result in health issues

An environmental-friendly approach like renewable packaging has become an inevitable initiative in the consumer marketplace to overcome these impacts. Sustainable packaging has recently been in focus in the food industry due to the rising plastic pollution. Rising regulations on single-use plastic and companies committing to reduce their carbon footprint have led to higher adoption of sustainable packaging solutions. Companies such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Mars have already made progress in this direction with sustainable packaging solutions.

Eco-friendly packaging solutions include:

Use of biodegradable plastics
Use of plant-based plastics
Post-consumer recycled polyethylene bags made from recycled waste

The packaging innovation segment is substituting plastic with PHA or paper to meet sustainability goals. Companies are also receiving FDA GRAS status for their ingredients to increase consumer acceptability of packaging.

Waste upcycling to reduce plastic

Microbial fermentation allows the use of agricultural or industrial waste and feedstocks to produce high-value ingredients such as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), nano-cellulose, among others. Sustainable packaging can be biodegradable or compostable at home, in nature, or industrial composting units. Waste upcycled startups produce sustainable packaging that can degrade within a few weeks in the appropriate conditions. Significant food and nutrition players – big and small F&B players, have committed to developing sustainable packaging using upcycled waste. A few innovative startups are listed below dedicated to developing and introducing sustainable packaging for food applications.

Significant innovators

Five significant innovative startups in the food industry developing sustainable packaging products are listed below

1. Bluepha

Bluepha produces biodegradable PHA bioplastic from microbial fermentation

Received about USD 36.5 Mn in funding
Uses reprogrammed microbes to utilize crops and kitchen waste to produce PHA powder
The bioplastic degrades in the soil and seawater in 3-6months

The Beijing-based startup uses precision fermentation to produce biodegradable PHA-based bioplastic. The bioplastics application includes kitchen flatware, pouches, films, textile products and can also be used for 3D printing. The PHA bioplastic is a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived plastic.

2. Evanesce Packaging Solutions

Produced from plant-based by-products
Cost-effective with a shelf life of 2 years
Compostable within less than 90 days

The company produces biodegradable and compostable food containers. The company has partnered with Haas/ Bühler to develop and commercialize its products. The company has set up its first manufacturing plant in South Carolina, US, with over 100,000 sq. ft. and intends to commercialize its products by 2021.

3. Paptic

Paptic utilizes wood fibers to produce recyclable and biodegradable packaging material.

Completely degradable under industrial composting conditions
Packaging supports food and beverage products

Paptic has provided solutions to Fazer and Santa Helena to package chocolate drops and wine-in-box solutions, respectively. The packaging can be produced with existing paper converting lines and does not require new infrastructure.

4. Cellugy

Cellugy uses microbes that bioconverts sugars to nano-cellulose to produce a biodegradable packaging solution.

Recognized as GRAS by the FDA
It is a water-based product and does not use volatile organic compounds for the production

Cellugy’s product EcoFLEXY can be used as a barrier layer in cellulose-based packaging to provide water resistance using a patent-pending biotech process. In addition, the packaging is biodegradable at room temperature and can integrate into existing recycling streams. In late 2020, the company announced securing €2.38 million in seed round funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Pilot Phase 2. Initially, the company received €430K with a project value of €720K from Novo Nordisk BioInnovation Institute and Sky Ocean Ventures in its pre-seed funding round.

5. is it fresh

Uses electrochemical sensors to determine the freshness of the product
Detects pH, O2, DO2, Humidity, ascorbic acid, and temperature
Compatible with existing QR code/ barcode systems
Generated tracking data helps to reduce cost by creating actionable supply chain insights

The company integrates NFC- enabled electrochemical sensors in the packaging. The technology provides destruction-free verification of contents in a box. Sensors offer sustainable packaging solutions by allowing real-time detection of the freshness of the product, thereby reducing wastage.

Significant Innovators of Sustainable Packaging for Food

Listen to this Article

Introduction

Significant innovators

References

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Significant Innovators of Sustainable Packaging for Food

Listen to this Article

Introduction

Significant innovators

References

Need a thought partner?

Our Clients

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