A student created water soluble packaging for Instant Noodles
You need to cook the packaging to get the flavour
Like many other students, Holly Grounds also survived on instant noodles while pursuing her product design course.
That’s when she noticed the amount of plastic packaging that came with the noodles.
A dish designed to be cooked and eaten in under ten minutes came in packaging that takes over eight decades to decompose.
This thought led her to reimagine the packaging- something sustainable and convenient.
And she came up with an edible, spice-infused wrapper that breaks down when cooked to season the broth.
The packaging is made from readily-available ingredients including potato starch, glycerin and water.
The herbs and flavourings are embedded into the packaging itself.
As soon as the packaging comes into contact with boiling water, it dissolves.
The individual parcels are stored in a wax-coated paper sleeve, for hygiene.
What a beautiful innovation!
Less waste and makes it easier for the consumers to manage the entire process.
What do you think about this?
Here’s how 3 startups are reducing plastic waste in the food industry
🥡Helping restaurants transition to Earth-friendly packaging
8.3 billion tons of plastic lying on the planet… Plastic that was manufactured 70 years ago is still impacting our health as it takes 500-1000 years to decompose. The team at Jybe had estimated that out of the 7.42 million tons of waste generated in the US, 500,000 tons come from the meal delivery container.
Sustainability and Delivery App… Launched in September 2020, Jybe helps diners to prioritize their food delivery choices based on Earth-friendly packaging. Customers order food as they do on any other food delivery app. but after receiving the order, they are prompted to update specific details about their take-out packaging
Details like the amount of plastic used, if the packaging is compostable and other eco-friendly packaging details.
Based on its analysis, the Jybe app allocates a score of 1 to 4 turtles to the delivery, which helps other users to make an informed decision.
Until a user provides a review for their last order, they cannot place the next order from the Jybe app.
Making it easier for restaurants… Restaurant owners have a wide array of responsibilities. Covid-19 has made the situation even more difficult. Even if they have the intention to replace plastic, they don’t have the time and resources to look for vendors. Jybe works with restaurants to help them identify sustainable, affordable packaging alternatives. It lists sustainable packaging vendors with their product pricing on its website, making it easier for restaurants to choose and order.
🥡Creating materials that work for the people and the planet
Here’s a comparison…COVID-19 has exacerbated the single-use plastic problem as more restaurants have signed up with delivery apps and more consumers use these services. Research by NUS business school highlights that an average delivered meal uses an estimated 54 grams of plastic vs an average of 6.6 grams of plastic used in an average restaurant meal.
10 years and 50 patents later… Newlight Technologies, a biotechnology company manufactures Restore AirCarbon™ cutlery and other foodware products using AirCarbon, a carbon-negative biomaterial. Developed after 10 years of research, AirCarbon is a natural material made by life.
It does not contain synthetic plastic and degrades if it ends up in the environment.
It stands up in hot and cold conditions, never gets soggy, and is dishwasher-safe for reuse.
It is carbon negative- it removes more CO₂ from the atmosphere than is emitted.
Replicating a natural process… Natural microorganisms in the ocean consume air and greenhouse gases (GHGs) dissolved in salt water to produce a meltable energy storage material inside of their cells called polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB). Newlight replicated this process on land through their 10 years of research. Natural microorganisms from the ocean are combined with renewable power, air, saltwater, and captured greenhouse gases to manufacture AirCarbon, which is melted to form straws and forks.
🥡Helping people move from disposable to reusable
We’ve been kept in the dark… In most developed nations, citizens have been sorting their trash for decades now. They are made to believe that the trash put in the recycling bin is actually recycled. In the last 7 decades, only 10% of plastic has been recycled. The rest is either in landfills or clogging our oceans. The plastic industry has spent millions ‘educating’ us about recycling while the conversation should have been around reducing and reusing.
Reusable lunch boxes… UK-based CauliBox is building a circular economy for food. Founder Josephine Liang is making sustainability affordable and convenient through a network of reusable lunch boxes. Customers place a food order from a partner restaurant and like any other delivery service, it is delivered at their doorstep in a reusable CauliBox
After finishing the meal, customers can schedule a pick-up time for their box.
The box is collected from their doorstep, washed and sanitized and put back in circulation.
Customers earn Cauli points which they can redeem for sustainable goods and services.
Delaying the need to recycle… A CauliBox can be reused 400 times before being recycled. This prevents the wastage and energy that goes into manufacturing 400 boxes. The boxes are made of Polypropylene(PP), which is a type of plastic. It takes 20-30 years to degrade vs other plastics that take ~500 years.
🙋Trivia of the week
Although we're surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don't think about X too often. For thousands of years, X hasn’t changed even though it causes significant environmental problems, by using up raw, finite materials and creating carbon emissions.
With this in mind, Randers Tegl has the vision to become the most sustainable X manufacturer. The company has developed a new line of products called GREENER, produced exclusively with biogas and electricity from wind turbines to reduce their environmental impact by 50%.
Can you identify X?
Hint: Because of X, the building blocks of modern suburban homes would be familiar to the city planners of ancient Babylon, the Great Wall of China, or the builders of Moscow's Saint Basil's Cathedral.
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I am seeking a food-grade, heat-dissolvable edible film suitable for wrapping individual portions of butter. The key requirements are:
Dissolution upon contact with heat: The film should melt or dissolve completely when exposed to cooking temperatures, such as in a pot or microwave.
Food safety: It must be safe for direct contact with food and not alter the taste or quality of the butter.
Biodegradability: An eco-friendly solution is preferred.