In West Australia, Bioplastics Innovation Hub and Cass Materials, a Perth biotechnology company, have partnered to develop wheat straw-based foam to ship seafood.
According to Food Processing, WA’s seafood industry is worth about $1 billion, with expanded polystyrene boxes that take centuries to decompose used for much of the distribution. However, many regions are beginning to phase out the material.
“In WA, approximately 10 million tonnes of wheat straw per year is retained on the farm and, with no tillage systems, most is burnt,” said Cass Materials CEO Gary Cass. “With the Bioplastics Innovation Hub, we can convert this agricultural waste into new fossil-free biofoam boxes for fresh food and seafood markets.”