Australia’s looming single-use plastic problem could soon shrink with recent developments in bioplastic.
Researchers from Victoria University – with support from the Victorian government – have been working on developing sustainable package solutions made from agricultural waste such as peas, lettuce, celery, and mushrooms.
As increasing bans on plastic and growing consumer awareness are seen worldwide, the federal government is targeting all packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
While there are recent efforts to mitigate plastic waste, such as the National Plastics Recycling Scheme and recently paused RedCycle, the volume of soft plastic packaging amounted to nearly 500,000 tonnes from last year alone – and only 4 per cent gets recycled.
Dr Marlene Cran, the team’s polymer expert, said the team has been working with unusable produce and found that celery’s high cellulose content makes an ideal food tray, while zucchini, broccoli, and lettuce can be made into thin films that can be used as tray inserts.
In addition, pea starch waste left over from the extraction of proteins is said to create a flexible film that could replace plastic.
Dr Cran added that despite the lack of industry-grade facilities, and the expense of testing alternative packaging, it just makes sense to replace disposable packaging with sustainable ones.
“Designing something that can compete on price and effectiveness with plastic and foam is decades-long work. But the investment needs to start now,” she concluded.
The team said their goal is to use minimal interventions to make the processes as natural and inexpensive as possible and easier to scale in the future.
