Abstract
In today’s society, packaging is essential. Without this, the materials would be messy and ineffective. Despite the importance and key role of packaging, they are considered to be useless, as consumers see it as a waste of resources and an environmental threat. Biopolymer-based edible packaging is one of the most promising solutions to these problems. Thus, inulin, biopolymers such as agar and sodium alginate, and glycerol were used to develop a single use edible material for food packaging. These biofilms were obtained and tested for three months. For inulin-based films, the results highlight improvements not only in physical properties (homogeneity, well-defined margins, light sweet taste, good optical properties, high solubility capacity or, as in the case of some samples, complete solubilization), but also superior mechanical properties (samples with high inulin content into composition had high tensile strength and extremely high elongation values). Even after three months of developing, the values of mechanical properties indicate a strong material. The optimization establishes the composition necessary to obtain a strong and completely water-soluble material. This type of packaging represents a successful alternative for the future of food packaging: they are completely edible, biodegradable, compostable, obtained from renewable resources, and produce zero waste, at low cost.
Highlights
Nowadays, the total amount of plastic waste exceeds 200 million tons, with an annual increase of about 5%
Plastic packaging usually contains residues from the food it contains and other biological substances, so their recycling is impractical and economically inconvenient; as a result, tons of plastic packaging are thrown into nature, increasing the waste problem year after year, [1]
The films were made by cast method, using different proportions of biopolymers, plasticizers and inulin, according to Table 3
Summary
The total amount of plastic waste exceeds 200 million tons, with an annual increase of about 5%. The petroleum-based materials used to make plastics were polyethylene terephthalate (PET), vinyl polychloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) or polyamide (PA). They are heavily used due to low cost, and especially for mechanical performance: high tensile strength and elasticity, good barrier to O2 , CO2 , and aroma compounds, heat stability, etc. Plastic packaging usually contains residues from the food it contains and other biological substances, so their recycling is impractical and economically inconvenient; as a result, tons of plastic packaging are thrown into nature, increasing the waste problem year after year, [1]. Both in terms of food safety and renewable resources, is the use of edible films or coatings
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