Vegetal fibres-reinforced PLA antimicrobial composites for packaging applications - ECOPLACKAGING

Project summary

The development of bio-based antimicrobial packaging polymers is in great demand in order to overcome the huge environmental impact of conventional fossil-based plastic materials and guarantee food protection against physical, chemical, and microbiological effects that is why bio-based materials have attracted extensive interest in the packaging field. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is the ideal choice to achieve these goals because it is compostable and can be produced from renewable resources, however, pure PLA materials also have some shortcomings, such as poor hydrophilicity, poor mechanical properties and lack of antimicrobial functionality, which limit their range of application. In order to overcome these limitations ECOPLACKAGING aims to develop a fully biodegradable bioplastic composite consisting of a PLA matrix reinforced with: 1) vegetal fibres obtained from plant waste, namely island invasive plant species and 2) low-cost and environmentally-friendly antimicrobial glasses.