CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The packaging market is constantly searching for innovative technology due to the high demands of government in recent decades caused by one of the major conflicts in the world that consists of the stockpiling of solid industrial waste from petroleum-based plastics. Synthetic plastics that originatedfrom petroleum are not biodegradable compounds; therefore, they persist in landfill and in the environment for decades if not longer, producing environmental pollution and other damage associated with contamination (Liu et al. 2016; Siracusa et al. 2008). The agglomeration of manufactured products sharply aggravated pollution (Cheng 2016). The presence of plastic waste in the environment leads to the contamination of potable water supplies and soils (Gwenzi et al. 2015; USEPA 2016). The accumulation of waste from plastic packaging is becoming increasingly difficult to stop and generates great social and economic problems. The great concern is the amount of waste plastic thatwill accumulate in the near future if no actions are immediately taken to prevent this problem. According to data published by Nova (2015), in 1960, the world produced 7 million tons of plastic, with predictions of an increase of 540 million tons in 2020. A large proportion of these are from packaging such as bags, containers, and/or coatings to protect products from the food industry. The waste generated by the use of plastic from food industries is one of the most intractable problems in the world. A study by marketsandmarkets.com (2015) explains that the world market for the bags will be around 33.4 million in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1% between 2015 and 2020. According to IBC Bags (2016), 500 billion bags are used per year that takes 150 years todecompose. On the other hand, consumer demands and trends are making a huge change that must be adopted soon by the market (Figure 7.1). The replacement of synthetic/petroleum materials by those that degrade rapidly such as biodegradable polymers have been urged as a possible alternative for food packaging industries for decades (Averous and Pollet 2012; Eco-Live 2016; Gutiérrez et al. 2015a; Mater-Bi 2016; Market Research Store 2016; Mohanty, Misra, and Drzal 2002; Seligra et al. 2013). New trends have focused on attempting to use biodegradable, compostable, and nontoxic polymer-based films to reduce the deleteriousness of food. These materials degrade much faster than conventional nonbiodegradable plastics and can be discarded in landfills (de Dicastillo et al. 2016; Gutiérrez et al. 2015a,b; Jaramillo et al. 2016; Leja and Lewandowicz 2010; Rimdusit et al. 2008; Seligra et al. 2016). Biopolymers can be obtained from renewable sources and are environmentally friendly, nonabrasive, and inexpensive. They also have the potential to improve the quality and shelf life of a food product (Kowalczyk and Biendl 2016; Remya et al., 2017; ?uput et al. 2015). Biodegradable films are promising because they display significant properties that markedly improve a food product, such asimproving the organoleptic properties of packaging by incorporating flavorings, colorings, etc.(Mathlouthi 2013). They also facilitate the presentation of food in individual containers with small portions (products that currently are individually packaged: fruits, nuts and others); avoid the deterioration of the components by moisture migration; control the exchange of gases such asoxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene processes involved in breathing; prevent the loss of important nutrients; etc. (Garcia, Martino, and Zaritzky 1998). On the other hand, the films serve as support for a variety of additives, such as antioxidants, antimicrobial agents, colors, and/or nutrients (Fama et al. 2010; Medina Jaramillo et al. 2015; Moreno et al. 2016; Mosqueda-Melgar, Raybaudi-Massilia, and Martín-Belloso 2012). As an example, a recent publication of Deutsche Welle (2016) showed that polymer edible films could be used as packaging wrapping for meat or fish.