In Finland, food packaging firm Huhtamaki is developing food packaging based on natural raw materials. The company has partnered with Sweden’s Södra to develop Durapulp, a biocomposite material based on wood fiber and biopolymer that can be used to produce food trays that can be used in microwaves and conventional ovens.
“A fully bio-based ready-meal package is vital to ensure that more sustainable products are fabricated in the packaging industry,” Steve Davey, project manager at Huhtamaki’s Lurgan, Northern Ireland, facility, tells Horizon, EU’s research and innovation magazine.
Separately, French company Lactips is working on edible food packaging and from milk protein casein.
According to Horizon, plastic packaging accounts for almost two-thirds of all plastics used in the EU, but less than half is recycled.