Circular Economy Driven Biocomposites: A Renewal for Innovation and Commercialization in Sustainable Packaging

Since 1950, plastic waste on land and in ocean has accumulated to more than 7.5 billion tons globally. One of the innovative solutions is in adopting a “circular economy” concept, through utilization of wastes to create new industrial products. Recycled and waste material sources are gaining more interest in green packaging sector, as new technologies are being developed. Composite materials are well suited for the utilization of waste sources, including waste plastics and other bio-based wastes. In addition, a range of compostable biocomposites for food packaging uses are possible to engineer by combining biodegradable plastics with industrial waste and coproducts such as coffee chaff, tomato skin, grape pomace, etc. The major scientific challenge is in compatibilizing the bioplastics and biomass residues, while economically maintaining cost-competitiveness of new products. We developed compostable coffee pods, in close collaboration with our industry partners, which is commercially available today. This success was made possible through coffee industry waste valorization in a biocomposite formulation. Overall, biocomposites have been effectively used in valorization of waste plastics and can be one of the enabling strategies towards a circular economy and improved sustainability.

Acknowledgements: i) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada Discovery Grants (Project # 401111); ii) the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) – University of Guelph, the Bioeconomy Industrial Uses Research Program Theme (Project #030255 and 030361); iii) OMAFRA-University of Guelph Gryphon’s Leading to the Accelerated Adoption of Innovative Research (LAAIR) Program (Project # 030416); iv) the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Program; Round-9 (ORF-RE09) from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Canada (Project # 053970 and 054345); and v) the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Maple Leaf Food, Canada and Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canada through Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) Bioproducts AgSci Cluster Program (Project # 054015, 054449 and 800148).