In the light of the recently published document “A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy”, all stakeholders involved in the life-cycle of plastic packaging are striving towards achieving a solution which could avoid possible plastic pollution.
Any market research on the subject today easily shows that both consumers and retailers ask producers to operate in order to reduce the use of plastics in packaging.
A considerable percentage of the European consumers confirm to be prepared to spend more in order to have a packaging film which can be 100% recycled or can be completely biologically decomposed.
More in detail, retailers and the packaging industry are asking for a totally compostable, yet performant, wrapping solution along with easy-to-use and maintain cost-effective packaging machines.
Today the main keywords on which any innovation in food packaging has its own ground are:
- Compostable Packaging
- Circular Economy
- Renewable resources
- Resource efficiency
- Recyclability
The Nature Fresh Consortium led by Fabbri Group grounds its works on the consideration that compostable plastics during the composting process have the ability to break down, safely and relatively quickly, by biological means, into the raw materials of nature and be useful to the environment (soil) as enriching compost.
Within a period of 30 months (from July 2019 to December 2021), the Consortium is developing a new platform technology based on:
- A certified compostable cling film
- An industrial packaging machine compatible with compostable film, trays, labels and their relative labeller
- An integrated packaging machine for retail, also compatible with the above
The Nature Fresh project specifically addresses the whole fresh food packaging market (white and red meat, fish, dairy, fruit, vegetables, alternative proteins, ready meals…).
Within this FTI project, the Consortium will carry out all relevant activities to create and promote the Nature Fresh solution, such as commercial scale manufacturing of the compostable film, design and development of the automatic wrapping machines, design and development of the compostable label applicator, gain regulatory approvals and conduct end-user trials to gain market acceptance and a swift market entry by Q2- 2022.
After 2 years from its official launch onto market, the Nature Fresh certified compostable cling film by Fabbri Group has proven to have from good to very good performance in terms of strength, transparency, permeability, extensibility and sales at a European level, serving also the purpose of limiting food wastage.
The Nature Fresh project delivers thus to retailers, food processors, and the common public direct environmental and humanitarian benefits and addresses a current opportunity to reduce the use of plastic.
At the same time the new solution will assist client companies in meeting sustainability initiatives and reports.
