Cellulose-based materials instead of plastics in food packaging

The use of bio-based materials is a promising alternative in the packaging industry for reducing the environmental impact and the use of non-renewable resources. Materials based on cellulose can be an outstanding alternative to substitute materials currently used in MAP.

A fully sustainable solution will be developed that will maintain the freshness of the product and assure its food contact safety. The solution will provide actual or improved shelf life through the use of cellulosic materials and biodegradable polymers, with simplified production. There will be broad opportunity for use of the solution in several food products nowadays packaged using MAP.

Adcellpack is a two-year project that started at the beginning of November 2012. The budget is 1.4 million euros, and the project is financed by the EU (FP7-SME-2012 Research for the benefit of specific groups).

The consortium is based on a group of four SMEs – Distribuciones Juan Luna, S.L.U. (Spain), Papelera de Brandia, S.A. (Spain), Elastopoli Oy (Finland), and Skymark Packaging International Limited (UK); one large enterprise – Centros Comerciales Carrefour (Spain); and two relevant research centres – VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and ITENE Packaging, Transport and Logistics Research Center (Spain), the latter as coordinator of this initiative. All have expertise in paper production, bioplastics processing, conversion of packaging materials, and cheese production.