Far too much packaging winds up in landfill. At Coda Plastics we have a strong commitment to recycling and even take in other firms' waste plastics to use in the manufacture of our packaging products. But there is another approach: edible packaging. Is it the sustainable answer to food packaging waste or another gimmick from the marketing department?
So how does edible packaging work? There are a few designs on the market. One that is drawing a lot of attention at the moment is the WikiPearl. In the WikiPearl, an edible centre of cheese, yoghurt or icecream is wrapped in an edible 'skin' of "...protective electrostatic gel formed by harnessing interactions between natural food particles, nutritive ions and a polysaccharide." It doesn't sound too delicious, but it is environmentally friendly.
There's a way to go before we start seeing edible packaging making a regular appearance on our supermarket shelves, and two major problems need to be overcome. The first is taking away people's fears and doubts about eating packaging. This can be overcome by making the packaging delicious and complementary to the product it contains, like these edible cocktail glasses from Loliware.
However, the bigger problem is the risk of cross-contamination in transport. How do you get your edible packaging and its contents from factory to consumer without it coming into contact with the various bacteria and contaminants that packaging is intended to prevent? If you have to wrap your edible packaging in something inedible in order for it to remain edible, then that does defeat the purpose.
For conventional or unconventional packaging designs in plastic, call us on 01692 501020 and we will be happy to discuss your ideas.