Film Made From Plants Could Replace Plastic Packaging
- Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a biodegradable film from renewable sources that rivals the barrier properties of conventional plastics, perhaps revolutionizing packaging for food,...
- Published in Nature Sustainability, the research details a novel approach to biopolymer film progress, addressing a key challenge in sustainable packaging: maintaining effective moisture and oxygen barriers.
- Plastic packaging constitutes a meaningful portion of global waste, with an estimated 36 million tons generated in the United States alone in 2018.
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Bio-based Film Offers Sustainable Option to Plastic Packaging
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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a biodegradable film from renewable sources that rivals the barrier properties of conventional plastics, perhaps revolutionizing packaging for food, pharmaceuticals, and electronics.
Published in Nature Sustainability, the research details a novel approach to biopolymer film progress, addressing a key challenge in sustainable packaging: maintaining effective moisture and oxygen barriers.
The Problem with Plastic Packaging
Plastic packaging constitutes a meaningful portion of global waste, with an estimated 36 million tons generated in the United States alone in 2018. Conventional plastics, derived from fossil fuels, persist in the environment for centuries, contributing to landfill overflow and ocean pollution. Microplastics, resulting from the breakdown of larger plastic items, are increasingly found in food chains and even human bodies, raising concerns about potential health impacts.
While bioplastics offer a potential solution, many currently available options struggle to match the performance of conventional plastics in terms of barrier properties. This limitation restricts their use in applications requiring long-term preservation, such as food packaging and pharmaceutical storage.
Georgia Tech’s Breakthrough: A Bio-based Barrier
The Georgia Tech team, led by Professor Carson Meredith, developed a film utilizing materials sourced from plants, mushrooms, and food waste. The precise composition is proprietary, but the researchers emphasize the use of readily available, renewable resources.Crucially, the film demonstrates comparable-and in certain specific cases superior-performance to conventional plastics in blocking moisture and oxygen transmission.
“We’re using materials that are already abundant in nature and degrade there to produce packaging that won’t pollute the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years,” explains Meredith,also the executive director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech. The team achieved this by carefully controlling the film’s structure at the nanoscale, creating a dense network that effectively impedes gas and water molecules.
Key Performance Metrics & Comparison
The researchers rigorously tested the film’s barrier properties using standard industry methods. The following table summarizes a comparison between the new bio-based film and common plastic packaging materials:
| Material | Oxygen Transmission Rate (OTR) - cc/m²/day | Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) – g/m²/day | Biodegradability |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Bio-Based Film | < 1.0 | < 2.0 | Fully Biodegradable (within 6 months) |
| Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) | 5-10 | 3-5 | Non-Biodegradable |
| polypropylene (PP) | 2-7 | 2-4 | Non-Biodegradable |
| Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) | < 1.0 | < 2.0 |