Development and redesign of flexible packaging under sustainability criteria

Abstract

The circular economy and sustainable development are critical issues today, given the growing environmental pollution caused by solid waste, especially plastics. Furthermore, plastic waste has raised significant social concerns and alerted plastic product designers. Therefore, developing or redesigning plastic products in the flexible packaging industry is imperative to ensure their recyclability at the end of their life cycle. It is necessary to ensure that the mechanical and barrier properties of the ecological plastic packaging remain intact for specific uses. The current study aims to redesign flexible packaging, focusing on providing the mechanical and barrier properties of the packaging suitable for food industry applications, thus offering a solution through new design proposals that allow the development of sustainable and flexible packaging, emphasizing material reduction and recyclability. This study assessed and compared the mechanical properties of the proposed packaging with those of existing products. The results demonstrated the feasibility of reducing plastic film thickness or eliminating layers in a tri-laminated structure and transitioning to a bi-laminated structure. This adjustment did not compromise the mechanical and barrier properties; the oxygen barrier remained at 35.39 cc/m2*day, and the humidity stood at 0.57 mg/m2*day. This investigation led to a 26.48% reduction in the raw material consumption of laminated coils and 12.68% in Doypack type packaging used in food applications. Consequently, the decreased material usage and adoption of monomaterial structures significantly minimized the environmental impact of plastic waste contamination due to the possibility of mechanically recycling the final product.