Photo: Ainia designs an automatic manufacturing system for a new cardboard container, the Fibtray tray, aimed at food packaging, which reduces the use of plastic material by 85-90%. According to AINIA, stand out five trends in packaging for food packaging: reducing the weight of the material used, favoring recyclability, paper and cardboard as an alternative, the introduction of chemical recycling in the food sector and compostable materials.
AINIA adds, in a article published on its website, that the Royal Decree on Packaging and Packaging Waste promotes a trend towards circularity of packaging and its sustainability. The bases are reduction, reuse and recycling, in this order according to waste management.
In reducing the weight of the material used, AINIA puts as an example bag inbox, or cardboard boxes that include a plastic bag that allows the dosage of the product. As for more recyclable materials, he cites the use of polyamide (PA), or EVOH, which appear as alternatives. In paper and cardboard, another example is the packaging that incorporates a plastic material into the rigid cardboard that facilitates the sealing of the container and provides it with barrier properties, in addition to facilitating the separation of plastic and cardboard for the consumer. Likewise, chemical recycling has become a commercial alternative and this year more complex applications of compostable materials have been seen in the Spanish market.
In AINIA they are working on activities focused on the development of sustainable materials (biodegradable and paper-cardboard), which is part of the R&D line in sustainable materials that AINIA is developing within the framework of the PROMECE 2021 program financed by the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE).
