{"id":169054,"date":"2025-10-17T07:37:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=169054"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:33:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T11:33:32","slug":"scientists-create-natural-plastics-for-everyday-packaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/scientists-create-natural-plastics-for-everyday-packaging\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists create natural plastics for everyday packaging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Edward
Edward Attenborough and Dr Leonie van \u2019t Hag are creating smarter bioplastics for packaging and medical films to cut down single-use waste. \u00a9 Monash University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Researchers have transformed food waste sugars into natural plastic films that could one day replace petroleum-based packaging, offering compostable alternatives to commonly used plastics for food and agricultural films like silage wrap.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With global plastic production exceeding 400 million tonnes annually, a Monash University study<\/a> highlights the potential of a new type of biodegradable plastic by converting food waste sugars into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) biopolymers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By selecting different bacterial strains and blending their polymers, the researchers produced films that behave like conventional plastics and can be molded into other shapes or solids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, led by Edward Attenborough<\/a> and Dr Leonie van \u2018t Hag<\/a> from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, provides a framework for designing bioplastics for temperature-sensitive packaging, medical films and other products, addressing the global challenge of single-use plastic waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research teams fed two soil-dwelling bacteria \u2013 Cupriavidus necator<\/em> and Pseudomonas putida<\/em> \u2013 a carefully balanced \u201cdiet\u201d of sugars with the right blend of salts, nutrients and trace elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the microbes fattened up, they began stockpiling natural plastic inside their cells. The scientists then \u201cmilked\u201d these plastics out using solvents, cast them into ultrathin films about 20 microns thick and tested their stretchiness, strength and melting behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis research demonstrates how food waste can be transformed into sustainable, compostable ultrathin films with tunable properties. The versatility of PHAs means we can reimagine materials we rely on every day without the environmental cost of conventional plastics,\u201d Mr Attenborough<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy tailoring these natural plastics for different uses, we\u2019re opening the door to sustainable alternatives in packaging, especially where they can be composted along with food or agricultural waste.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By comparing the stiff plastic made by C. necator<\/em> with the softer, more flexible version from P. putida<\/em>, the study demonstrates how blending the two can tune film properties like crystallinity and melting point, while maintaining strength and flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team is collaborating with industry partners including Enzide and Great Wrap through the ARC RECARB<\/a> and VAP hubs<\/a> to develop biodegradable packaging and medical solutions with potential commercial applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study builds on\u00a0earlier work<\/a>\u00a0which demonstrated the potential of these materials as sustainable drug delivery systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Read the research paper:\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s12934-025-02833-7<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers have transformed food waste sugars into natural plastic films that could one day replace petroleum-based packaging, offering compostable alternatives to commonly used plastics for food and agricultural films like silage wrap. With global plastic production exceeding 400 million tonnes annually, a Monash University study highlights the potential of a new type of biodegradable plastic by converting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":169076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The study, led by two researchers of the Monash University, provides a framework for designing bioplastics for temperature-sensitive packaging, addressing the global challenge of single-use plastic waste","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[13383,11270,5847,12351,7105],"supplier":[27039,17348,4483],"class_list":["post-169054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bacteria","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioplastics","tag-medicaldevices","tag-packaging","supplier-enzide","supplier-great-wrap","supplier-monash-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169054"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=169054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}