Introduction
Petroleum-based food packaging, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene
(PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyamide (PA)
are well known and well established, which are omnipresent in our
daily lives. However, their increased importance and use in the food industry
raised questions on their environmental impact. This growing
environmental awareness together with rising oil prices has led to an
increased interest from the food, packaging and distribution industries
for the development of alternative biobased packaging concepts. The
use of biobased-packaging materials can decrease CO2 emissions (by
the closed loop system) and the consumption of crude oil and makes
the industry less dependent on fluctuating oil prices. Furthermore,
different types of resources can be used for biobased materials, including
resources derived from certain by-products in the food industry.
However, like conventional packaging, biobased and/or biodegradable
packaging must fulfill a number of important functions, including containment
and protection of food, maintaining its sensory quality and
safety, and communicating information to consumers