GLOPACK, the project that has won over the jury of the Étoiles de l’Europe
Valérie Guillard, a researcher at the Agopolymer Industry and Emerging Technologies Laboratory (IATE), has been named a winner of the European Stars for Research and Innovation award for the GLOPACK project, which explores food packaging with a low environmental impact.
At the time, it was a minor revolution in the food industry. Lightweight, malleable, and economical, plastic quickly emerged as the panacea for packaging. Lesieur was the first to capitalize on this, launching the first PVC bottle on the market in 1963.“The extraordinary properties of plastic have contributed significantly to the development of the food industry, particularly by maximizing product shelf life, which has resulted in considerable economic gains,” says Valérie Guillard, a researcher at the IATE laboratory.
Environmental concerns
Sixty years later, the issue has shifted because plastic is everywhere—in the oceans, in rivers, on the tops of glaciers, in animals’ bodies, and in breast milk. Whether macro, micro, or nano, not a month goes by without plastic being found where we’d rather it weren’t. “Environmental concerns about pollution caused by plastic packaging first emerged in the 2000s, and from there arose the need to develop other types of packaging with a lower environmental impact.”
This is the very essence of the GLOPACK project, for which Valérie Guillard received the Special Jury Prize at the “Stars of Europe” awards, which recognize coordinators of European research and innovation projects. The project is innovative in three ways, as it addresses three key challenges: the packaging of the future will therefore be bio-based and biodegradable, active, and smart.
Bio-based and biodegradable
While the formula for this bioplastic made in Montpellier remains a secret, its ingredients can be revealed.“The packaging we’ve developed is made from a polymer derived from the fermentation of fruit juice industry waste and cellulosic fibers,”explains Valérie Guillard. By formulating the mixture according to a precise protocol and assembling it using innovative technologies, the researchers have created a material that looks just like plastic—but is completely biodegradable.
This polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA, easily meets this first challenge.“The goal we’ve set for ourselves is to achieve complete biodegradation under natural conditions—that is, in soil or in household compost, for example,” adds the researcher, noting that it can also be reused. The result: a material that doesn’t accumulate in the environment and reduces the packaging’s ecological footprint.
Active and intelligent
The icing on the cake: this packaging, developed by the IATE laboratory, is designed to be active and smart.“Active because it improves food preservation and shelf life without the use of additives.” And smart because it incorporates RFID indicators that detect food spoilage,“like a new generation of self-adjusting expiration date labels—an essential tool for reducing food loss and waste ,” explains the specialist.
Beyond the technological aspect, the GLOPACK project also aims to implement a market launch strategy that incorporates the deployment of decision-support software tools, communication activities, business plans, and sustainability scores.“To this end, we have developed software tools designed to assist food industry professionals that take into account multiple criteria, such as the material used, its benefits during use, and its post-use impact.” The researchers are thus proposinga “packaging score”that, similar to Nutriscore, rates the tested materials to make them easier to compare.“This work on scoring is crucial and goes beyond what currently exists in terms of plastic footprint indices.”
When will we see GLOPACK-branded packaging on supermarket shelves? “The very idea behind the project was, of course, to transfer technology to the industrial sector. We hope that after another two or three years of development, our industrial partners will be able to bring packaging developed through the GLOPACK project to market,” concludes Valérie Guillard. This project has had a real and tangible impact, winning over the jury of the Stars of Europe.
