Shellac coating paves way for sustainable food packaging

The work has been published by researchers at the School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand and the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London UK, in the SCI journal Polymer International.

Moulded pulp, made from renewable materials such as eucalyptus wood or sugarcane bagasse, is widely used as a sustainable packaging material to protect products in shipping, for food service trays, containers and beverage carriers.

Its production volume represents more than 30 per cent of all paper-based packaging materials, and in addition to its renewable feedstocks, it is also suitable for recycling and composting.

However, the materials’ poor gas barrier properties and limited resistance to water and oil make moulded pulps unsuitable for maintaining shelf-life and quality of many products. This is typically resolved by laminating or coating the materials with petroleum-based polymers like polyethylene and a thin layer of metals, usually aluminium, making recycling or composting impractically challenging.