The Technological Institute of Plastics (AIMPLAS) coordinates the research carried out by a group of seven companies and technology centers that, together with their own researchers, develop new materials for the manufacture of biodegradable packaging for dairy products. This is the European BIOBOTTLE project, whose objective is the creation of multilayer and monolayer bottles, as well as bags for packaging dairy products that do not require separation from the rest of organic waste at the end of their short useful life.
AIMPLAS and the rest of the BIOBOTTLE partners are working on the development of a biodegradable material that allows the production of large-format multilayer bottles or bags such as milk or shakes, as well as smaller monolayer bottles such as those used to pack probiotics. .
One of the main difficulties faced by the project researchers is to achieve a material that, in addition to being biodegradable, meets the same requirements as conventional packaging used today, including resistance to heat treatments such as sterilization. or pasteurization. To this end, it has been planned to modify the current commercial biodegradable materials by reactive extrusion in order to overcome the thermal limitations currently present in said biodegradable materials on the market.
BIOBOTTLE is a European project within the Seventh Framework Program that has a budget of one million euros in which, together with AIMPLAS, a total of seven companies and technology centers from five different countries participate: Germany (VLB), Belgium (OWS), Italy (CNR), Portugal (VIZELPAS and ESPAÇOPLAS) and Spain (ALMUPLAS and ALJUAN).
