Danish give packaging an edible treat

Image courtesty www.polymers.dk

Researchers in Denmark have invented a bioplastic material made from dairy products that could replace traditional polymer-based packaging. The technology is currently available for licensing.

Many supermarkets nowadays encourage shoppers to use fewer plastic bags to reduce waste. But what the massive amount of packaging that comes wrapped around their products contributes far more volume to landfills.

Now researchers at the Danish Polymer Centre have invented a bioplastic material that could replace traditional polymer-based packaging. The technology is currently available for licensing for scale-up and onward commercialisation. The basis of the material is a polylactide (PLA) made from dairy products which can be used to produce a lightweight, flexible wrapping.

 “The aim is to produce a general purpose packaging material,” says Kell Mortensen, head of department at the Risø Research Centre at the Danish Polymer Centre, in an interview. “You can put this material into a composter and there will be no waste.”

In fact, not only is the material degradable, it is edible.

“You can even eat it,” says Mortensen. “There is no waste, it comes from a renewable bio material and you don’t use oil to make it. Usually after you have eaten the products you would have put the packaging in the bin, with but with our material you can eat the packaging, or put it in the garden.”

The Danish Polymer Centre has conducted tests to see how quickly the material degrades into soil and results have shown it takes, “weeks to maybe a month”.

“Anyone could take our knowledge and build on top of that,” said Mortensen. “Our part is finished but it’s not yet on a useful commercial base. We are looking for collaboration with companies for large-scale production.”

Which leavers the burning question what edible packaging tastes like: “You’d only want to eat it if you were very hungry,” says Mortensen.