Usable Packaging featured on Materially website
Usable Packaging partner Materially has published an article on experimental packaging that features Usable Packaging outputs. Many thanks to them and to other Usable Packaging partner Bio-Mi for their support!
Open letter to European Institutions
Usable Packaging project coordinator Prof Chema Lagaron has sent an open letter to European Institutions on behalf of the consortium, in which he offers a seven point strategy to support the development of the biobased and compostable plastic industry as part of the EU’s bioeconomy.
Newsletter Issue 3 Autumn 2022
The final newsletter from USABLE PACKAGING – Issue 3 Autumn 2023 – is now out, providing you with the latest updates on the project’s progresses and successes, notably significant advances in producing PHA from food processing by-products and the manufacture of bio-based frozen bags.
USABLE PACKAGING end of project meeting – 9 November 2022
The USABLE PACKAGING project has proven the concept that by -products from food production can be transformed into compostable packaging and other products. The results of the project, delivered over three years and led by Spain’s Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), will be presented to stakeholders and the public during the Ecomondo Expo in Rimini, Italy, in November. More info on the meeting and how to attend.
UK Food Waste Authority report on food packaging
UK food waste authority WRAP has launched a report which “has challenged accepted thinking that packaging helps to preserve fresh produce. In fact, it shows that selling loose has huge potential to reduce food waste in our homes.”
Bioinicia Biomask
USABLE PACKAGING Partner Bioinicia has produced a biomask using new PHA technology akin to that of Usable Packaging to help with the Covid pandemic.
Newsletter Issue 2 Autumn 2021
Issue 2 Autumn 2021 is now out. The newsletter aims to keep you up to date with the project’s progress. In this issue, you’ll find an overview of the project and a comprehensive round up of the work packages activities, featuring the outcomes of the research undertaken to date and a link to a vox pop study carried out in June 2021 to assess people’s perception of bioplastics
Five things to know about
For anyone concerned about the impact of single-use plastic on the planet, plant-based plastics that break down and return to the earth seem like a very appealing concept. But there are a few things to know before you dispose of that compostable coffee cup. Five things to know about biodegradable
Video – Bioplastics:
What do people think?
USABLE PACKAGING partner BBIA has produced a video in which it asks people in the street what they think about bioplastics. The research gives valuable insight into people’s attitude to packaging and the challenges facing consumers today. The interviews demonstrate that the current system is really confusing, and that people
USABLE PACKAGING webinar – Portuguese
The objective of the Usable Packaging project, launched in June 2019 for a three-year programme of research, is to develop a compostable packaging material using food industry by-products and food waste, to be used as an alternative to fossil-based, environmentally harmful equivalents for food, pharmaceutical and clothing packaging. The project
Call for Papers
The Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), co-ordinator of the Usable Packaging project – funded by the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking as part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No 836884 – is calling for papers to be presented at the 7th Mixed Microbial Culture PHA Workshop
USABLE PACKAGING webinar – Italian
The USABLE PACKAGING project, funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking as part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, aims to significantly reduce the use of fossil-based, environmentally harmful packaging by developing a bio-alternative derived from food industry by-products and food waste.
As follow up of the webinar in French held in February 2021, a webinar in Italian was held on 15th April 2021.
European assessment of compostable packaging
A report, produced by Ricardo Energy, quizzed experts across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain on the potential for compostable packaging to increase the amount of food waste captured for recycling and limit plastic contamination in organic waste streams. Some 72 percent of respondents stated compostable packaging would help
USABLE PACKAGING webinar – French
On 22 February 2021, in partnership with Euramaterials, BBIA hosted a webinar in French about the Usable Packaging project. Funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking as part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the project aims to significantly reduce the use of fossil-based, environmentally harmful packaging by developing a bio-alternative derived from food industry by-products and food waste.
Video project introduction
An introduction to the USABLE PACKAGING Project. On 19 November 2020, we published a video concerning the project. USABLE PACKAGING will develop high performance plastic packaging through a sustainable and fully circular value chain, where the biomass raw material sourcing derives from food processing side streams, to obtain, via a
Newsletter Issue 1 Autumn 2020
Issue 1 Autumn 2020 Welcome to the first Usable Packaging project newsletterThis newsletter aims to keep you up-to-date with the project’s progress. We hope you find it informative and look forward to hearing from you with any questions and comments. Edoardo Righetti, Innovenedoardo.righetti@innoven.com Jocelyne Bia, BBIAjb@bbia.org.uk Contents Project overview Launched
Practical application of bio-based compostable product
USABLE PACKAGING project reaches new milestone with first practical application of bio-based compostable product. Spanish family enjoys meals using re-usable plates made from new PHA compound material. A family in Spain has been the first to use a new bio-based, re-usable and compostable plate manufactured as an outcome of the
Don’t scrap the waste:
The need for broader system boundaries in bioplastic food packaging life-cycle assessment The increasing amount of plastic waste generated each year, fuelled by the growing consumption of single-use plastics in food packaging applications, threatens the integrity of our ecosystems while creating an unprecedented waste management crisis. The biodegradable properties of
Breaking the plastic wave
In recent years, an increasing number of studies and reports have advanced the global understanding of the challenge posed by ocean plastic pollution. But most leaders across industry, government, and civil society have noted a critical gap: an evidence-based roadmap to describe the pathways available and to foster convergent action.
WEBINAR: One Year USABLE PACKAGING
ONE YEAR OF PROJECT WORK AN UPDATE FROM THE PARTNERS. On 2 July 2020, we hosted a webinar to provide an update on the project, one year from its launch in June 2019. USABLE Packaging aims to remove the barriers to market uptake by providing a favorable technical and economic
Compostable Cutlery
COMPOSTABLE STRAWS UNVEILED AS FIRST OUTCOME OF THE USABLE PACKAGING PROJECT After unveiling compostable straws as the first outcome of the USABLE PACKAGING project, Spanish project partners Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) and stakeholders OCENIC RESINS, also based in Spain, have announced the production of compostable cutlery as the
Compostable Straws
On 22 February 2021, in partnership with Euramaterials, BBIA hosted a webinar in French about the USABLE PACKAGING project. Funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking as part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the project aims to significantly reduce the use of fossil-based, environmentally harmful packaging by developing a bio-alternative derived from food industry by-products and food waste.
USABLE PACKAGING on Spanish TV
On 3rd February 2020, the Usable Packaging project featured on the Valencia television channel À Punt, with a TV crew visiting Usable Packaging partner Bioinicia and interviewing Usable Packaging Project Co-ordinator and BioInicia founder Prof Jose Maria Lagarón, as well as Pablo Calvo, CEO of Ocenic Resins. The report explains
A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy
In 2018, the EU published a strategy to address the issues around plastics for up to the year 2030, saying that: “Too often the way plastics are currently produced, used and discarded fails to capture the economic benefits of a more ‘circular’ approach and harms the environment. There is an
End of waste criteria for biodegradable packaging
There are four criteria required for a waste material to obtain end-of-waste status:[1] the substance or object is commonly used for specific purposes; there is an existing market or demand for the substance or object; the use is lawful (the substance or object fulfils the technical requirements for the specific
Top 10 emerging technologies for 2019
Great news for all USABLE PACKAGING partners: A new report by the World Economic Forum has listed “Bioplastics for a circular economy” No 1 in a list of the Top Ten emerging technologies of 2019. An international Steering Committee of leading technology experts worked to identify some of the breakthrough
What is biodegradable packaging?
Only compostable packaging materials adhering to the EN13432 standard can be considered ”biodegradable” in the context of the Waste Framework Directive 2008/92, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 96/82 and the Essential Requirements and additionally the Directive on Single Use Plastics (article 3, 16). Packaging materials adhering to the EN13432
Getting biowaste to recovery, i.e. is it a permitted waste input?
Biowaste collections should allow the simultaneous collection of compostable packaging, but before biowaste is submitted to recovery, it needs to be recognised as a permitted waste input. Food waste should be defined as per the Waste Framework Directive Article 3 point b.4.: “bio-waste” means biodegradable garden and park waste,
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