Overview
![](/assets/images/picto-drapeau-france-3a76576a5d60a512053b4612ab58dae5.png)
ABSTRACT
The use of agro-resources for food packaging materials, biosourced (without competition with food usages) and fully biodegradable in natural conditions, offers a way to replace oil-sourced packaging materials and remedy the ecologically disastrous accumulation of plastics in our environment. This article first presents the role of food packaging, and then focuses on the characteristics of agro-resources, specific issues concerning their transformation into packaging materials and the related environmental implications.
Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.
Read the articleAUTHORS
-
Valérie GUILLARD: Associate Professor at the University of Montpellier, Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (2016-2021) - UMR IATE, (Montpellier-France)
-
Hélène ANGELLIER-COUSSY: Senior Lecturer at the University of Montpellier - UMR IATE, (Montpellier-France)
INTRODUCTION
Agro-resources are defined by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) as all raw materials derived from agriculture, whatever their intended use. This refers exclusively to materials of living origin cultivated by man, and not to those taken directly from the environment.
They are therefore considered renewable.
This article therefore excludes animal biomass and all marine resources derived from micro- and macro-algae and phytoplankton.
Agro-resources represent a palette of raw materials with extraordinary potential, not least to feed the 9 billion or so human beings who will soon make up our Humanity.
Agro-resources are made up of ordered and hierarchical assemblies of biomolecules that enable them to fulfill their role in Nature: plant structures, for example. Over and above the basic needs that agri-resources have been meeting for millennia (food, housing, textiles), they have, for less than a century, been attracting growing interest for non-food uses in the fields of bioenergy (e.g. biofuels), biofertilizers, biomolecules and, more recently, biomaterials (e.g. automobiles, construction, packaging...).
Biomaterials include not only bioplastics, but also natural lignocellulosic fibers, which can be used as reinforcing fillers in the production of composite materials, making them highly promising alternatives to composites reinforced with synthetic fibers.
Agro-resources have thus become renewable raw materials whose transformation by manufacturers enables them to design high-performance products with reduced environmental impact.
It should be stressed that the resource seems inexhaustible: agro-resources are made up mainly of polysaccharides, including cellulose, and it is estimated that nature produces 10 10 to 10 11 tons of cellulose annually, i.e. at least half of terrestrial biomass ( , ).
The use of agro-resources in packaging has been known for centuries as :
the use of waxes to coat fruits in 12th-century China to protect them from drying out, among other things (
Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!
You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!
Already subscribed? Log in!
![](/assets/images/logo-eti-286623ed91fa802ce039246e516e5852.png)
The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference
KEYWORDS
packaging | waste | Food packaging | agri-materials | bio-based plastic | Organic agriculture | biobased compounds | bio-plastics
CAN BE ALSO FOUND IN:
This article is included in
Packaging
This offer includes:
Knowledge Base
Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees
Services
A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources
Practical Path
Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills
Doc & Quiz
Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading
Packaging from agro-resources
Bibliography
Websites
-
ADEME – French Environment and Energy Management Agency
-
EcoBioCap (FP7 2011-2015) Ecoefficient Biodegradable Composite Advanced Packaging (16 partners)
-
European...
Standards and norms
- Biobased products – Overview of methods for determining biobased content - FD CEN/TR 16721 - Novembre 2014
- Plastics – Specifications for plastics suitable for home composting - NF T51-800 - Novembre 2015
- Biodegradable materials for agriculture and horticulture – Mulching products – Requirements and test methods - NF U52-001 - Février 2005
- Sludge characterization – Nitrogen determination XXX - NF...
Regulations
Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs.
EU regulation no. 10/2011, published on January 15, 2011, concerns plastics intended for contact with food. Repealed Directive 2002/72/EC, as well as Directives 80/766/EEC and 81/432/EEC.
Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!
You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!
Already subscribed? Log in!
![](/assets/images/logo-eti-286623ed91fa802ce039246e516e5852.png)
The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference