Sealed with a Twist: Clever Packaging Solutions for Savvy Bakers
The primary goals driving packaging material innovations include extending shelf life, ensuring product safety, enhancing sustainability, and improving consumer convenience.
Variables such as product type, storage conditions, and distribution logistics play a crucial role in determining the suitability of different packaging materials. For example, moisture-sensitive products like cakes and pastries require packaging with excellent moisture barrier properties, while products prone to oxidation, such as whole-grain breads, benefit from oxygen-scavenging packaging. The storage and distribution environment, including temperature fluctuations and handling practices, also influence the choice of packaging material.
Coatings
Innovations in coating materials for bakery packaging have significantly enhanced the functional properties of traditional packaging solutions. Advanced coatings, such as bio-based and biodegradable coatings, are being developed to improve moisture and oxygen barrier properties while maintaining environmental sustainability. These coatings are often derived from natural sources like chitosan, a polysaccharide obtained from crustacean shells, or from plant-based materials like waxes and proteins. When applied to paper or biodegradable films, these coatings create an effective barrier that prevents the ingress of moisture and oxygen, thereby extending the shelf life of bakery products. Additionally, these bio-based coatings are designed to be compostable, aligning with the growing consumer demand for eco-friendly packaging options.
Coating Solution from Agricultural By-products
One example of innovation is this field comes from Mondi’s recent partnership with advanced biomaterial engineers traceless to develop a new coating solution based on by-products from the agricultural industry. This innovative bio-circular coating solution is the first of its kind and will be able to replace traditionally used plastic coating.
There is an increasing demand for plastic alternatives in packaging solutions, and this new coating will respond to the demand directly: made from renewable plant-based materials, namely residues from the agricultural industry, it eliminates the need for fossil raw materials. traceless’ consequential life-cycle assessment showed that the provision of traceless® material to the market leads to overall greenhouse gas savings of 76% from sourcing to disposal, if the material is used as a replacement for virgin PET. If only the production and disposal phase is considered, these savings add up to 95%. Also, the material is certified home compostable by DIN CERTCO according to NF T51-800.
The joint work of Mondi and traceless on this product started in 2021 and brought world-leading expertise together: Mondi’s knowledge in paper coating and packaging solutions, and traceless’ expertise for material solutions based on natural polymers. The coating granulates are produced in traceless’ pilot plant and are applied to Mondi’s kraft paper in Mondi’s R&D center for further testing of the coated paper in the company’s laboratories. Later production on industrial scale will take place in a designated plant in Hamburg.
Varying products require different barriers in their packaging and the coated kraft paper solution is tested thoroughly for different packaging purposes, to ensure it can be used across different end-markets: the in-depth trials have confirmed that kraft paper coated with traceless® can resist water, oxygen and fat, while offering good printing abilities for different customers. At the same time, the goal is to develop a solution that is also recyclable in existing recycling streams throughout Europe. Currently, the properties of the bio-based coating are further optimized, fine-tuning the solution to make it fit for different packaging applications for various end-markets such as eCommerce, frozen food, fatty and non-fatty food. The goal is to achieve a packaging solution, which can be scaled for a range of different industries and significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions throughout the packaging life cycle.
Read the rest of the article in the North America Overview supplement.