Cheese and almonds, the weapons to end plastic in packaging

Ending the production of plastics is one of the objectives of the European Union for the coming years, although it was also one of the past. However, its use and consumption has not stopped growing in recent years. Every year 500,000 million plastic bottles are produced that take almost half a millennium to decompose.

A reality that directly confronts the objectives of the circular bioeconomy set by the European Union (EU) that focuses on traditional packaging, among others, to seek a more sustainable formula in the long term.

With this idea in mind, in 2018 the European project Ypack was born which, based on cheese whey and almond shells, began to develop three compostable products: a tray and two food contact films. After three years of research and seven million euros in investment, a team led by the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) managed to create an active and biodegradable container, capable of disintegrating in a maximum period of 90 days and lengthening the shelf life of some fresh products up to 48 days.

“This is the first time that the full industrial implementation of the container has been shown, with positive studies on biodegradation, allergenicity and shelf life,” says José María Lagarón, IATA-CSIC researcher and project coordinator.

To produce the designed containers, polyesters produced in nature by microorganisms were chosen. “It is ecologically designed, it is safe and it has adequate conservation properties to minimize food waste,” reveals Lagarón.

With this formula, the new containers “would be compostable”, respond those responsible for the CSIC. “This means that the biological degradation of the container occurs in a controlled time which, in this case, is a maximum period of 90 days after being discarded,” they add.

Its secret formula is “3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3hydroxyvalerate” or what is the same, a polymer formed from cheese whey and made cheaper with almond shells.

From dried fruit residues, a toxic by-product of cheese manufacturing, and nanocellulose, the composition of the new material was beginning to be defined. However, the idea of ​​the project was not limited to creating a passive container that would protect the food from the outside environment, but rather they were looking for an active container that would participate in its conservation.

The two ingredients responsible are zinc oxide and oregano essential oil. “Its incorporation into the PHBV polymer showed short-term (15 days) and medium-term (up to 48 days) antimicrobial effects against two bacteria that can cause food poisoning: Staphylococcus aureus (staphylococcus aureus) and Escherichia coli,” the experts point out.

“The formula to combat harmful microorganisms can be used for products in which the package is opened and closed several times, for example, in the case of slices of bread or slices of ham,” they add.