Packaging - Should We Recycle It or Eat It?

 By: Mary Barrera


Transparency of edible food packaging: (A) gelatin film, (B) papaya-gelatin film, (C) soy protein papaya gelatin film (Ashfaq et al., 2022).   


Most of the food packaging used in markets contain materials that are nonbiodegradable to the environment and take years to be decomposed. This leads to the question in research about if there are alternative methods in packaging that would ultimately reduce generating plastic waste. To relieve this issue, packaging film was made using materials commonly found in households such as gelatin, soy protein, corn starch, and papaya - biodegradable and edible. The process of preparing the packaging film took three steps, but the third step was distinct because glycerin was used as substitute of plasticizer and added to each type of film (gelatin, papaya-gelatin, and soy protein papaya gelatin as shown in the figure above). FT-IR was used to analyze the physiochemical properties that make them suitable to replace traditional plastics, such as tensile strength for fast degradation and the transparency levels for moisture permeability (using WVTR analysis). Essentially, this alternative of creating edible, biodegradable package film consists of organic material that would naturally decompose if introduced to the environment, as opposed to plastic material that serves as a pollutant. In addition, the trade-off would be that by expanding the ability of these gelatin-based films to be produced in markets as biodegradable and edible, it would work as an eco-friendly strategy to reduce the amount of plastic waste that accumulates during mass-production in industries. On top of that, but it would also serve as public awareness of the importance of developing environmentally sustainable strategies to reduce underlying risk factors towards the environment and our well-being that occur with conventional plastics.

Ashfaq, J., Channa, I.A., Shaikh, A.A., Chandio, A.D., Shah, A.A., Bughio, B., Birmahani, A., Alshehri, S., and Ghoneim, M.M. (2022). Gelatin and papaya-based biodegradable and edible packaging films to counter plastic waste generation. Materials. 15(3). https:// doi.org/10.3390/ma15031046


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