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Converting Agro-industrial By-products into Biodegradable Composite Materials for Food Packaging: Presentation of an Eco-reasoned Approach

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Green Chemistry and Agro-food Industry: Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy

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Abstract

After revolutionizing everyday life in all sectors, including food packaging, providential plastic has turned into a time bomb, with harmful long-term effects of plastic waste. By setting up a research strategy simultaneously focusing on resources, usage and post-usage aspects of alternative packaging materials and technologies, advances are expected in terms of materials respectful of circular economy principles. In this context, biocomposite materials able to return to the soil through biodegradation and those constituents are all stemming from agricultural residues appear as interesting alternatives. As each food category presents specific needs, current demands for research deal with the development of the just necessary “custom-made” food packaging that offers a compromise between product quality, minimal environmental impact and maximum safety. To guide users in their choice of sustainable packaging, taking into account their constraints and expectations, decision-support tools are thus required. This chapter presents the current knowledge regarding (i) modeling and decision-support tools to address the multi-criteria and multi-actor aspects of the issue, (ii) the European scale development of eco-efficient composite materials derived from unrecycled agri-food residues, (iii) the stringent scrutiny that needs to be placed on the safety of these materials in contact, and finally (iv) clarification of their end-of-life options.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    FP7 EcoBioCAP:”Ecoefficient Biodegradable Composite Advanced Packaging” www.ecobiocap.eu

  2. 2.

    https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/773375.

  3. 3.

    https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/773375.

  4. 4.

    ASTM D6400 -Standard Specification for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities. ASTM D6868 - Standard Specification for Labeling of End Items that Incorporate Plastics and Polymers as Coatings or Additives with Paper and Other Substrates Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities.

  5. 5.

    UNI 11,183:2006 - Plastic Materials Biodegradable at ambient temperature. Requirements and test methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR IATE, Place Pierre Viala, 34060, Montpellier, France

    Hélène Angellier-Coussy, Emmanuelle Gastaldi, Nathalie Gontard, Carole Guillaume, Valérie Guillard & Stéphane Peyron

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  1. Hélène Angellier-Coussy
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  2. Emmanuelle Gastaldi
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  3. Nathalie Gontard
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  4. Carole Guillaume
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  5. Valérie Guillard
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  6. Stéphane Peyron
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Correspondence to Hélène Angellier-Coussy .

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  1. Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB),, Universitéy of Paris-Saclay, INRAE, Agr, VERSAILLES CEDEX, France

    Stéphanie Baumberger

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Angellier-Coussy, H., Gastaldi, E., Gontard, N., Guillaume, C., Guillard, V., Peyron, S. (2024). Converting Agro-industrial By-products into Biodegradable Composite Materials for Food Packaging: Presentation of an Eco-reasoned Approach. In: Baumberger, S. (eds) Green Chemistry and Agro-food Industry: Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54188-9_10

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