Public Funding for Parkside Flexibles (Europe) Limited

We know picking through the bathroom waste bin is not pleasant, and so it is no surprise that less than 50% of bathroom waste is put in a bin ready to be recycled. The rest end up in our general waste and ultimately in land fill. Our goal is therefore to eradicate single use plastic bottles used in personal care. This will be achieved by delivering a no hassle refill system of products which work as well as your favourite brands. We believe that saving the planet shouldn't cost the earth.

The HiBarFilm2 consortium will build on the success seen in our feasibility study project (HiBarFilm) and continue the development of high barrier monolayer films for food packaging applications. Multilayer flexible films, used commonly at high volumes in food and medical packaging, are one of the most challenging plastic products to recycle, these materials represent nearly a quarter of all consumer packaging, yet only 6% is currently recycled (WRAP). These thin films are typically between three and twelve layers of different plastics adhered together, often meaning they are not economical to recycle or if recycled can affect the quality of waste streams due to the mix of materials, consequently these materials are commonly incinerated or sent to landfill. Multilayer flexible films are currently a necessity in the food industry. Food production is an energy and resource intensive industry, to which plastic packaging has the potential to achieve a net positive environmental impact by reducing food waste and increasing shelf-life. The combination of these multiple polymer layers is what provides the barrier performance -- increasing the shelf life of products by controlling the transmission rate of oxygen and water, it is also responsible for the packaging's physical and mechanical performance, such as puncture and tear resistance and heat sealability. There remains fine balance between the use of these often challenging to recycle, multi-layered single use plastics and an increase in food waste. HiBarFilm2 has an ambitious objective to achieve the same barrier performance using a mono-material polyolefin film as the currently used multilayer barrier films. The consortium aims to accomplish this using plasma functionalised nanomaterials to increase barrier performance in two main areas of focus; firstly by mixing the nanomaterials directly into the polyolefin prior to filming, adding barrier properties to the film itself - both polyolefin films and compostable plastics will be used to also address the issue with contamination of the films with food waste such as fats and blood; and secondly by dispersing the nanomaterials into a barrier coating which can be applied to the polyolefin substrate. The advantage being the two solutions can be combined to increase the barrier performance further. By manufacturing mono-material flexible films the recyclability of these materials will increase, and value will be added to this versatile material.

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The proposal addresses China’s development priorities to eliminate waste and improve food safety. The project will exploit complementary Chinese and UK research and industrial expertise to valorise waste from large scale (>10 million tons of waste) Chinese mandarin canning manufacturing for food safety applications. Efficient green technologies will be optimised to extract and refine food grade hydrocolloids and citrus bioactives from both solid and liquid waste streams. The focus will be on improving extraction efficiencies and solubility of the compounds to ensure compatibility with foods and packaging matrices. The exploitable outputs will be well defined biomaterials with downstream processing applications in two manufacturing sectors: (1) food additives and (2) food packaging. Food and packaging prototypes will be developed and selected according to optimal antimicrobial and antioxidant properties against key spoilage pathogens in high risk foods (e.g. meat and fish products) and consumer acceptability. This project will utilise China sustainable materials, provide commercial opportunities to Chinese and UK industries with benefits to the environment and the safety of consumers.

"**GraCoPack** is a collaboration between industry and academia to develop technology that will assist in the reduction of plastics entering the waterways, oceans and other unfriendly disposal routes, thereby reducing the toxic effect on marine life and eliminating the need for landfill and incineration. Presently plastic films, many used in the packaging of food products find themselves polluting the environment. Even those materials designated recyclable are rarely recycled. This is due to both the lack of collection of plastic films by county councils and the difficulty in using recycled plastics back in the supply chain. Even if a recycling scheme was introduced many plastic films are in fact several films (not always the same polymers) adhered together and as such are not recyclable. There are a number of sustainable materials available for the packaging of food items, such as paper, both recyclable and compostable and cellulose materials that are compostable. Both however, suffer in that they do not have inherent barrier properties that are required for both the preservation of food in the supply chain and the safety of food. Food can be adversely affected by the ingress of water vapour and oxygen both of which have an adverse effect on food safety and shelf life. Compostable laminated barrier structures are available but are three times more expensive than present structures and therefore have not been adopted by major clients. **GraCoPack's** objective is to develop and manufacture a coating from Graphene that can be applied to paper or cellulose materials that when applied will give the same or better barrier properties than laminated non-recyclable polymer structures. This coating is capable for being applied using specific coating technology that will allow the substitution of environmentally harmful plastics for sustainable or recycled alternatives. Once in production food or indeed pharmaceutical packaging would have the necessary barriers to ensure food / medical quality, enhance shelf life and maintain product safety whilst remaining cost effective. However, the huge difference against existing plastic structures is that these new packages will be fully recyclable / compostable and thus will make a significant difference to the environment."

This project will underpin an UK-Malaysian “Research and Innovation” bridge to accelerate the deployment of knowledge and the exploitation of research that will a) improve the preservation of food during transport/ storage between the producer and the consumer (in urban settings), b) reduce urban solid waste from plastics going to landfill, and c) improve health and well being of the population by reducing risk of communicable diseases transmitted by foodborne pathogens in meat or vegetables. To achieve these objectives, the project will develop affordable innovative sustainable packaging with improved shelf-life performance. The packaging system will be based on the use of cost-competitive, presently under utilised waste and the use of a new concept of active packaging; a packaging that will reduce/eliminate pathogen microbial growth, increasing shelf-life of packaged food (meat and vegetables). This will reduce food waste across the supply chain. The packaging system will be designed with agri-waste (palm empty fruit bunch), setting-up a platform for other subsequent broader uses, and will contribute to minimising waste-to-landfill problems.

To prevent transmission in the human food chain this feasibility project will target control of biofilms formed by microbial pathogens in the meat supply chain. The work will be tested Campylobacter and Salmonella, two of the most common foodborne pathogens in the United Kingdom. A particular focus will be given to the possible inhibition and removal of such biofilms using natural products. The research will build-up on multi-disciplinary expertise in pathogen biofilm, meat supply chain processing, and natural product chemistry. This will underpin future research on the design of anti-biofilm products for the meat packaging or cleaning product industry, which will be used in subsequent projects for usage in cleaning products formulation for the food industry, or in meat packaging (MAP trays, soaker pads or sealing foils). This work will have an impact on food poisoning, which represents a major challenge to the food industry, and to the National Health Service.

SAB-Pack: Synergetic AntiBacterial COATings solutions to improve safety and shelf life of chicken meatproducts. The aim of the project is the development of new antimicrobial coatings for new packaging solutionsthat will increase quality, shelf life and safety of chicken meat and chicken meat products.The coating solution will have multiple activity against a wide microbial spectrum, even at low temperatures astypical for the fresh meat sector. Within this project, these innovative materials will be designed for the usagein MAP trays, soaker pads or sealing foils in contact with poultry products.Project is expected to have an impact on food poisoning in the UK, which represents a major challenge to thefood industry with around 1 million people per year suffering foodborne illness at a cost to the UK economy ofover £1.5 bn per annum. Poultry contaminated with Campylobacter, a pathogenic bacteria, is the major singlecause of food poisoning in the UK, with a financial burden estimated to be £583 million