ENZYMES AS INNOVATION FOR BIOBASED PACKAGING AT THE FOOD VALUE CHAIN

Despite the ultimate and global goal should be reducing the amount of packaging used and/or substituting the plastic by biobased ones, some goods will require to be packed. For instance, small fruits such as berries have to be sold together, certain fresh products need to be protected with a case to prevent damages, and others need to be packaged to extend their shelf-life and maintain adequate organoleptic properties. For this reason, an outstanding advance in packaging material, with consistent features and appropriate cost-benefit, will lead to a decrease in food waste and less use of plastics, which causes so much damage to the environment. Thinner plastic films and containers contaminated with food usually can´t be recycled or used for food contact applications, limiting their reuse. Compostability can be a preferred end of life for such type of packaging. Several commercial materials are available, being polylactic acid one of the most used biopolymers due to their characteristics and price. However, PLA is industrial compostable but not home compostable. In this study, biobased matrices based on PLA and Biodolomer® and an enzymated Master Batch providing enhanced compostable properties to the final packaging, have been used. The enzymated masterbatch can increase the compostability in a 20%-30% (to be labelled as home compostable) together with an increase of compostability of packaging with a thickness above 2 mm.