Image Credit : BioBag
Project Overview
BioBag has created a compostable shrink-wrap for cucumbers that utilises plant based bioplastics in order to reduce the amount single use plastics going into landfill.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Project Context
Local Adelaide cucumber wholesaler George Antonas from fruit and vegetable wholesaler IG Fresh asked BioBag to create a fully compostable cucumber wrap for Drakes Supermarkets to reduce food waste. Wrapped cucumbers last up to three times longer and Drakes wanted an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional polyethylene plastic wrap.
Forty percent of plastic produced each year is used for packaging, and compostable film offers opportunities for better environmental outcomes. The term compostable simply means it can be returned to the earth as organic matter that won’t leave any traces of microplastics or toxicity in the soil.
Project Innovation
BioBags’ compostable wrap is made with a novel heat shrinking application of Mater-Bi, which is an innovative family of biodegradable and compostable bioplastics, developed by Italian bioplastics company Novamont over twenty-five years of research and innovation to provide solutions for specific environmental problems while combining product quality and performance with an efficient use of resources.
Mater-Bi uses substances obtained from plants, such as but not limited to, non-genetically modified corn starch, and biodegradable/compostable polymers obtained both from renewable raw materials and fossil raw materials.
Sustainability
Mater-Bi products are a fundamental tool for ensuring the quality of organic waste collection. Without Mater-Bi products in the process, a vital link in the carbon cycle would be broken. Biodegradation is part of the Earth’s natural life cycle, which is based on carbon. Due to photosynthesis, which is powered by the inexhaustible energy of the sun, plants and algae absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This process allows the plants and algae to grow and develop by synthesizing sugars and other substances. When communities use Mater-Bi products, they positively affect the carbon cycle.
Social and Community-Oriented Design - Object
Social design applies a design methodology and intervention to tighten the social fabric that holds us together. Addressing issues of social inequality, such as poverty or social isolation, social design is the pathway to a more just and sustainable society. Community-oriented design is a human-centered and participatory design practice that emphasises the betterment of local communities through the improvement of public facilities, equipment, identity and experience.
The object category celebrates creative and innovative design for an object or product. Consideration is given according to the design context and need, design innovation and the application of human centred design principles.
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