Recycling agricultural waste into food packaging

German eco-business partners Zelfo Technology and Upgrading have carried out trial production of an upcycled wheat straw-based Micro and Nano Fibrillated Cellulose (M/NFC) packaging solution. The material uses only the food producers’ lingo-cellulosic fibre and requires no additional binder.

Designed for food industry packaging, the resulting products have a robust and flexible form and smooth ‘closed’ product contact surface.

The trials used wheat; however, the developers say that almost all fibre-based crop residue or waste sources are suitable for conversion to packaging.

Zelfo and Upgrading say that the system offers producers the opportunity to become the raw material supplier of their own packaging material. Alternatively, they foresee a situation whereby M/NFC conversion of residual or waste fibre at a single regional source could also supply other growers in the same region with raw material.

The resultant packaging will be recyclable, non-toxic and biodegradable.