Propuestas para mejorar la sostenibilidad de los envases alimentarios

Résumé

The world production of plastic reached nearly 350 million of tonnes in 2017 (https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/6315/4510/9658/Plastics...). A 39.7% of this plastic material is used in the packaging sector, instead of traditional materials such as paper, glass or metal, which is a growing trend as a result of their advantages: low cost and density, good barrier and optical properties, ease of processing and versatility. However, plastic waste accumulates in seas and environments, surpassing 8 million tons in oceans each year (between 15 – 40% of the total produced) according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and generating a growing concern about the environment in consumers, which is making governments define actions to reduce this trend. In this context, the European Commission has published the European Plastics Strategy, according to which all packaging must be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2030. In line with this last type of solutions, during the last decade great efforts have been focused on developing biodegradable/compostable and/or biobased packaging materials for applications such as films, bottles, trays, etc. Among all the available material, PLA is broadly used due to its affordable price and properties, which make it suitable for almost any application and have consolidated it as one of the most promising renewable polymers for the packaging industry. However, these properties are far from those of conventional polymers, reason why research is being carried out to improve them, by introducing nanoreinforcements on biopolymers, for example. ITENE has worked during the last 15 years on different European and internal projects in which biodegradable packaging has been developed. For each application tailored solutions are approached in order to optimize final properties. Additionally, as food safety assessment is a must in these projects, ITENE has experience preparing Dossier for the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration