Public Funding for Cambridge Smart Plastics Limited

Plastic packaging and the waste associated with it is a well-known and painful part of modern life. However, it is the recycling, recovery, and end-of-life that we all hate, not the added convenience, hygiene, and shelf-life of products. Certain products just could not be sold without packaging, as oxygen and humidity would spoil and rot the food or let coffee beans lose all their aroma, but equally -- protect sensitive electronics or battery innards. These are precisely the packaging materials that can't be recycled and wind up in landfill or incinerators. The packaging materials, which you have likely handled today, are those with a lining of thin film of aluminium. This metal layer blocks all gas transmission, but equally, makes recycling and separating the metal from the plastic nearly impossible -- so actually plastic is not the only villain here... Our project aims to kick metals out of packaging films and turn to nature for a solution. Chitosan is an abundant natural polymer found in fungi and insect/crustaceans shells and itself evolved over billions of years to be stronger than steel and completely impervious to air and water. By making thin films of chitosan (and a little magical chemistry from our Smart Plastics library), we can create layers that serve the function of metal coatings but remain totally biodegradable and recyclable. Chitosan once crushed and mixed back into a recycled plastic will not degrade its properties, as metal would, but in fact strengthen the recycled materials. By using chitosan, we can aim for our packaging materials to be home compostable and totally sustainable. We propose a focused product development to move our technology into the market by piloting a new flexible film that can seal in flavour, extend shelf lives, and all of this without the need for mixing metals into our plastic. We hope the wait for bioplastics is over and the UK can be the champion of this revolution.

Plastic packaging and the waste associated with it is a well-known and painful part of modern life. However, it is the recycling, recovery, and end-of-life that we all hate, not the added convenience, hygiene, and shelf-life of products. Certain products just could not be sold without packaging, as oxygen and humidity would spoil and rot the food or let coffee beans lose all their aroma. These are precisely the packaging materials that can't be recycled and wind up in landfill or incinerators. These packaging materials, which you have likely handled today, are those with metal linings and thin films of aluminium. This metal layer blocks and seals in all the flavour and air, but equally, makes recycling and separating the metal from the plastic nearly impossible -- so actually plastic is not the only villain here... Our project aims to kick aluminium out of packaging films and turn to nature for a solution. Nanocellulose is what we call the plant extract we use -- the purest form of plant matter and itself evolved over billions of years to be stronger than steel and completely impervious to air. By making thin films of this nanocellulose (and a little magically chemistry from our University of Cambridge collaborators), we can create layers that serve the function of metal coatings but remain totally biodegradable and recyclable. Nanocellulose once crushed and mixed back into a recycled plastic will not destroy it's properties, as metal would, but in fact strengthen the recycled materials. By using nanocellulose, we can consider our packaging materials are "monopolymer" or single plastic. This is the key to recycling as separating is the major cost and problem with plastics recycling. We propose a focused product development to move our technology from the lab into the market by piloting a new flexible film that can seal in flavour, extend shelf-lives, and all of this without the need for mixing metals into our plastic. While we wait for bioplastics and the future of polymer science to find a solution, we will start right now by ensuring as much of our packaging is as easily recycled as possible.

While the wasteful use of single use plastics is regulated out of existence, the importance of plastics to modern industry is growing. The vehicles of the future, the aerospace sector and many others, rely heavily on this lightweight, strong and cheap material. Unfortunately, the same characteristics that make plastics so attractive, also present a fundamental challenge to its use. This project aims to resolve one of the most well-known issues: the fact that solid plastics do not stick to each other, and cannot be welded like metal. This means that bolts, screws and fasteners are typical today. Where this is not possible, industry has invested in heavy, energy intensive workarounds. This makes production costs higher and increases the carbon footprint of plastic parts. If a simple bonding agent (a "glue") could be produced, then production lines could quickly and efficiently build up plastic cars, airplane wings, and much more. This would drive down the cost of vehicles, their weight, and the resulting range and emissions. Our process is also less energy intensive, and therefore more environmentally friendly than the status quo. Cutting edge research at Cambridge University has now reached the point where just such a product could be made. This project has the goal to bring the state-of-the-art research in polymer science from the Cavendish Laboratory (the place where the electron and DNA were discovered) to the market through a collaboration between top scientists at the University and a local advanced materials start-up. We will work on a new bonding solution that will mean in a few short minutes, any standard plastics can be strongly and permanently bonded. This will allow for complex products made of structural plastics to be assembled quickly and with better environmental credentials than any comparable material. There is already strong interest and support letters from major manufacturers, and with this grant, the UK will continue to cement itself as a technology and advanced manufacturing leader.