{"id":44421,"date":"2021-05-17T09:30:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T07:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=44421"},"modified":"2021-06-04T11:07:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T09:07:23","slug":"ofi-research-project-food-packaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/ofi-forschungsprojekt-lebensmittelverpackung\/","title":{"rendered":"OFI research project Food packaging: thinner, lighter and recyclable"},"content":{"rendered":"

A current research project from Austria shows how food packaging can be made more environmentally friendly. The researchers also investigated solutions that combine material reduction and recyclability.<\/p>\n

The food industry is constantly working on new packaging solutions. Until now, the focus has often been on either material reduction or recyclability. In the Research project Re(d)source<\/em><\/strong> the Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology (OFI<\/a>) combined these aspects and developed customised, recyclable packaging solutions for and with the project partners involved.<\/p>\n

\u201eAmong other things, we wanted to find out which material reductions can still be made in food packaging without jeopardising product protection.\u201c Michael Krainz<\/strong> from the Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology (OFI) in Vienna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The institute is a member of ACR (Austrian Cooperative Research), a network of cooperative research organisations, and has been working on the following topics since 2014 projects to minimise packaging.<\/strong> At the same time, it was also about the Use of recyclable packaging films.<\/strong> \u201eIn the EU, more than half of all food packaging should be recyclable by 2030. Some retailers want this as early as 2022, which has put a lot of pressure on packaging companies. There are fears that recyclable packaging will no longer offer the necessary product protection - that would indeed be very counterproductive.\u201c<\/p>

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\"OFI
In the laboratory, OFI experts analyse existing packaging and look for optimisation potential. (Image: OFI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In consultation with the project partners - three Austrian meat-processing companies - the research project focussed on the Examination of tubular, vacuum and shrink bags as well as protective gas packaging<\/strong> for sausage, ham, poultry and fish products. The OFI project was co-financed by the Austrian Waste Prevention Promotion Programme of the Collection and Recycling Systems for Packaging (VKS).<\/p>\n

OFI research project tests different packaging variants<\/h2>\n

The reduction of packaging material was at the centre of the research. The target: save at least ten per cent of packaging material per type of packaging<\/strong>. Different packaging variants were tested and compared with each other in controlled storage trials at the OFI. The result: all the packaging tested achieved the target of a ten per cent reduction in material. In addition, both the material-reduced variants and the recyclable solutions performed well in the tests.<\/p>