Cellulose-based food packaging goes deeper

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has obtained new maximum limits for its highly extensible formable cellulose for rigid packaging applications. The results enable the manufacturing of a wide range of sustainable 3D packaging solutions that were previously unattainable. Essentially, this means that sustainable food packaging can be deeper so users can fit more cheese, for example, into the package.

Typical commercial boards have between 3 and 6% extensibility and best commercial formable boards have 10–18% extensibility. By using foam forming technology, VTT has now obtained up to 30% extensibility.

The material improvement enables, for example, food brands producing cold cuts to increase the cardboard-like package size from 75 g up to 200–250 g. By adjusting the tray forming process and tray dimensions even larger cardboard-like packages can be produced.

“Polypropylene film is one of the world’s most used polymers — its extensibility is up to 300%. Our invention now offers a viable, sustainable alternative on the market,” said Jarmo Kouko, Research Team Leader at VTT.

“... we’re extremely excited and proud of the results we’ve produced in our pilot-scale study, which clearly shows the commercial potential of our rigid cellulose-based packaging. In industries that use huge amounts of plastic like the food packaging sector, we can find plenty of opportunities to reduce the use of fossil fuel-based materials and replace them with sustainable ones that take us closer to carbon-neutral societies of the future and allow us to be more frugal with natural resources,” Kouko said.

The development work has been conducted as a part of a research program, where VTT in co-operation with 54 companies and Regional Council of Central Finland have up-scaled promising alternatives for plastic products.

The VTT team behind the research will be presenting their findings at The Greener Manufacturing Show 2023 in Cologne, Germany, from 8–9 November.

Image caption: VTT tray sample.