Top Alternatives To Plastic That Can Revolutionise Food Processing Industries

With this growing technology and changing lifestyles, a major part of this lifestyle is being played by plastics. Starting from a pen to a polythene bag in which we carry fruits and books are forms of plastic.Plastics are non-biodegradable and are a serious threat to environment. There is a actual need to find some alternatives to plastic that can counter this.

Why We Need Alternatives To Plastic

According to a report by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, nearly 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated every day in India. On an average, only 9,000 tonnes gets collected and processed for recycling. The plastic that is not disposed off appropriately, find its way into the feed of unsuspecting animals and ocean species, even clogging our drainage systems and reducing the richness of our soils. As for recycling itself, you may believe it is an effective solution to the current crisis.

The best solution is to develop best and top alternatives to the plastic that we can use in daily life as well as it can utilized in industries. There are many entrepreneurs who have been working upon this and came up with some really innovative ideas that are best alternatives to plastic.

Alternatives To Plastic

1.ENVIGREEN

Envigreen Biotech India Private Ltd has come up with organic biodegradable plastic bags which are made from starch. We may not believe but it’s true. Ashwath Hegde, a Mangalore-born but now Qatar-based NRI entrepreneur is the man behind Envigreen. This idea came to his mind in 2012 when the Government put a ban on the use of plastic.

Biodegradable Plastic Bags

SOME FEATURES OF THE ENVIGREEN BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC BAGS

• Zero plastic content
• Dissolves in water
• Biodegradable
• Free from toxic chemicals
• Suitable for electrical wrapping
• Anti-static
• Dust repellent
• Corrosion resistance
• Oil resistance

2.Biodegradable Water Bottle – OOHO

Have you ever thought of eating a bottle rather than discarding it? It’s no secret that plastic water bottles are causing harm to the environment. What if we can replace these bottles with something more environment-friendly? An innovative water bubble called OOHO! designed by the London-based Skipping Rocks Lab maybe an answer to the question. OOHO is the brainchild of Rodrigo Garcia Gonzale, Guillaume Couche and Pierre Paslier, the co-founders of Skipping Rocks Lab.

Meet OOHO,The Edible Water Bottle

3.Edible Cutlery

When we hear edible, then something which we can eat comes to our mind. Usually, we mean something which we can eat and digest is edible. But here, there is another term cutlery attached to it. Now we wonder how a cutlery can be edible? How can we eat a cutlery? How will it feel like eating the spoon along with the dish? Maybe it is an innovation of a food technologist – Cutlery that we can eat(Edible Cutlery).

Edible Cutlery By Bakeys

NarayanaPeesapaty came up with this innovation. He set up Bakeys India in 2011 in Hyderabad. He holds BSC (Hons) in Chemistry from Osmania University and MBA from IIFM- Bhopal. Later he worked as Senior Scientific Officer at International Water Management Institute (IWMI). He is the Founder and Managing Director of Bakey’s Foods Private Limited. He believes that change is the nature of the world. And we should be the instruments of change before the change overtakes us.

Even Big Food Chains are following this new trend in food processing industries. See Here

4. Edible Food Packaging – Casein Packaging

Recently, a new biodegradable film made of milk protein(Casein) is discovered by a team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture led by Peggy Tomasula and Laetitia Bonnaillie which has the potential to keep food fresher and substitute plastic wraps.

Casein Packaging

This new milk-based protein Casein is used to develop an edible and biodegradable packaging material. The casein-based material is up to 500 times better than plastic at keeping oxygen away from food. This happens because proteins form a tighter network when they polymerize, as found out by the researchers. This milk wrap is even more effective than current edible packaging materials in the market made from starch as it protects food products that are sensitive to light.

That’s It, Folks.