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Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

modernfarmer.com

11–20 of 141 posts

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#11
post #4
post #2

Plastic packaging protects food from moisture and dirt. If you make the packaging out of a water-soluble material and then eat it, surely that's almost completely useless? Like, now you need some kind of additional outer wrapper to stop your edible packaging from getting contaminated. The article mentions muffin liners as an alternative use case, but those are usually made of thin paper and are already compostable.

I think the idea is that it becomes like fruit and vegetables. You purchase them unwrapped, wash them, and eat them. This would have implications on the supply chain of course to try and keep these items clean. It could also replace individually wrapped items, such as in a box of cereal bars the individual bars wouldn't need plastic wrap.

My protein bars need individual wrap. I am not putting them 'naked' inside of my hiking backpack.

Not to mention how nasty the last one is when it takes you 2 months to finish a box... All of them exposed to air? Thanks but no thanks.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#12
post #5

This is nice, but we should avoid strictly focusing on the environmentally-specific properties of the product, but rather on whether the manufacturing process is scalable and cheap enough, and whether the product's other properties, like strength and food safety are worth the trade-off. Especially when starting the article with "But first, the industry needs to get on board." It's like that solar road idea: 1000x mor…

From the article: “But as folks are still interested in takeout, some experts think there’s a timely opportunity to update food storage options. Zhao says that’s why industry and researchers should work closely together.

“There’s not a perfect product yet. How can we reduce the cost? How can the formulations and technology more easily scale up through companies?” says Zhao.”

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edible packaging would also be biodegradable and a big plus, agreed that trying to eat it would pretty much defeat the purpose. Could make some interesting food items with an edible film though.

Edible doesn't make sense, because then we need a removeable layer around it to protect the edible part.

I think the parent comment is suggesting using it as a food ingredient, not as packaging. Like dumplings, or like how people make fancy desserts with edible gold leaf.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edible packaging would also be biodegradable and a big plus, agreed that trying to eat it would pretty much defeat the purpose. Could make some interesting food items with an edible film though.

Edible doesn't make sense, because then we need a removeable layer around it to protect the edible part.

The article describes how this edible part is also anti-microbial, if it were to be consumed instead of just thrown in a composter.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#15
post #9

Quoted post unavailable.

If you want people to stop making plastic, you need to come up with another material that will work for the various things plastic is used for. Hence this article.

Disagree.

Firstly, lets clarify. I don't mean "stop making plastic entirely", that would be impractical and silly.

What we have not done as a society is make any effort at all to place a limit on how much plastic is created.

We likely have no mechanisms at all for knowing who makes plastics, the quantity they make, the purpose they are made for and who buys them.

Step one is to somehow get limits in place on the amount the is created.

Right now, plastic production is an absolute free for all. You could set up "The Infinity Plastic" company tomorrow and spew out so much plastic that it would completely cover the entire earth and that would break no law at all, no one would know or notice.

It stupid that as a society we are so obsessed with dealing with the output without any effort to control the input.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#16
post #9

Quoted post unavailable.

If you want people to stop making plastic, you need to come up with another material that will work for the various things plastic is used for. Hence this article.

Corn starch is already a really good alternative, we use it in our house for bin liners, I wonder why it's not more popular as food packaging. Perhaps it has issues with durability over the time periods for which shelf storage is required.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#17
Sure, it 'could' - anything is possible!

> Of all the ideas presented, creating a fibrous film that is edible, no-waste, anti-microbial and water soluble was the one that took off, and Zhao published her first paper on the subject 15 years ago. Since then, she’s continued to tweak and refine the formulation.

This industry is driven by ROI and waste reduction. If this worked, it would've worked long ago.

Re: Could Dissolvable Cranberry Film Replace Plastic Packaging Someday?

#20
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that it becomes like fruit and vegetables. You purchase them unwrapped, wash them, and eat them. This would have implications on the supply chain of course to try and keep these items clean. It could also replace individually wrapped items, such as in a box of cereal bars the individual bars wouldn't need plastic wrap.

My protein bars need individual wrap. I am not putting them 'naked' inside of my hiking backpack. Not to mention how nasty the last one is when it takes you 2 months to finish a box... All of them exposed to air? Thanks but no thanks.

That’s what tin boxes are for. They keep their content fresh and protect it.
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