The international workshop, called Biopolymers: Present and Future Direction, will discuss the role of bioplastics in the juice industry in Europe, at the Silken Berlaymont Hotel, Brussels, from 9am-2.30pm on April 18 and is free to attend.
7th Framework Program
Interest is growing in the presentation of the first prototype of fruit juice packaging made with PHB (biodegradable bioplastic) obtained from the juice industry wastewater, first reported by BeverageDaily in 2012.
The packaging is the result of four years of R&D work in the framework of the European project PHBOTTLE, in the development of the concept of "Circular Economy" that drives the EU in its commitment to innovation and sustainable technological development, under the 7th Framework Program.
PHBOTTLE, a project coordinated by AINIA, has an international consortium comprising the European Fruit Juice Association (AIJN), the companies Citresa (part of Suntory multinational), Logoplaste Innovation Lab (Portugal), Logoplaste (Brazil), Omniform (Belgium), Sivel Ltd (Bulgaria), and Mega Empack (Mexico), and technology centres TNO (the Netherlands), Aimplas (Spain), and INTI (National Institute of Industrial Technology, Argentina).
The prototype packaging PHBOTTLE was obtained from the transformation of organic matter (sugar and others) present in the wastewater of the juice industry into a bioplastic material.
This material was enhanced with antioxidants to prolong the shelf life of the juice, as well as its resistance and other ergonomic characteristics.
Progress has been made possible by combining the latest advances in biotechnology, packaging and microencapsulation technologies, to demonstrate the value of organic waste from the juice industries as raw material to produce packaging for their products.
Tetra Pak and Avantium
Tetra Pak (Sweden) and Avantium (the Netherlands) will also present their developments in more sustainable packaging for juices at the workshop.
Tetra Pak has made a carton packaging made of renewable materials (Tetra Rex) and Avantium has created bottles made with a bioplastic (PEF) that has better performance than conventional petroleum-based plastics (PET).
The EU produces annually more than 67 million tonnes of packaging waste, of which about one-third is municipal solid waste. In developed countries, food packaging accounts for 60% of all packaging, becoming the main generator of waste.
In the workshop, PHBOTTLE project partners, and participants at the event, will share their sector knowledge and demonstrate how innovative and sustainable technology can be incorporated into food packaging.
It will include; assessing the value of using renewable sources to obtain new packaging materials and learning how to apply these materials in juice packaging, their development, production processes, limitations and potentials.
It will also look at other developments in packaging materials made with biopolymers.
To attend the workshop and for more information email Lurdes Soares at lurdes.soares@aijn.org