Sustainable Packaging Solutions

The extraction of plant proteins is a global growth industry. Yellow peas are an excellent source of proteins but there is a significant waste stream generated during processing. Crude pea starch is the main component and our team is currently developing flexible films utilising this waste material:

• stage 1 consist of optimising the addition of plasticisers to ensure the films are flexible and strong.
• stage 2 involves investigating the use of cross-linking agents to improve the water resistance of the films which are inherently hydrophilic.

Image description: Films from waste pea starch.

A large amount of produce grown on farms is unsuitable for sale for many reasons. These materials can be sent to other farms as animal feed, can be composted, or can end up in landfill where their decomposition can result in the release of methane gas.

Our team is working to develop techniques to utilise these materials and produce packaging trays and boards.

Celery wastes (whole unsellable stalks and leaves) are high in cellulose so we are developing a new type of thin board or tray.

Zucchini wastes are also high in fibre and we are developing a more flexible material that may be a suitable tray insert to separate produce.

Iceberg lettuce is similarly fibrous and we are investigating options to partially dry the leaves and laminate them to form a non-loadbearing cushioning materials or boards.

Image description: VU RISE team stand in front of produce packaging trays and boards.

Image descriptions: VU RISE researcher investigates creating boards and flexible trays from agricultural wastes and residues.

Mycelium is the root structure of mushrooms and fungi that is comprised of natural interconnected filaments called hyphae. This interconnected network can be tuned to grow a range of different items from bricks to furniture. We are currently working to develop packaging cushioning materials and foams by growing mycelium on a scaffold of agricultural wastes and residues.

We have successfully grown spores of oyster and reishi mushrooms that we are now using to colonise scaffolds of agricultural wastes to produce functional packaging materials.

Bagasse is the waste material that remains after the juice is extracted from sugarcane and it represents a significant waste source in Australia. Bagasse is now utilised as a renewable resource in various industries but its use as a cushioning material is relatively unexplored. Our work is developing techniques to treat bagasse fibres to facilitate the formation of foam or sponge-like structures that have the ability cushion vibration and impacts.

Image description: Cushioning materials from mycelium and sugarcane.

• A review manuscript focusing on the recovery of agro-industrial wastes in Australia to achieve sustainable development in packaging and energy sectors is in progress.
• A research proposal seeking funding from the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) 2023 program is under consideration.
• Our team is hosting and editing a special issue in the journal Sustainability (I.F. 3.251) entitled as Effective Production and Use of Bioenergy and Sustainable Packaging to Protect Our Environment.

Experimental evaluation of various laboratory-based accelerated vibration testing methods is under way. Read the review paper “The case for reviewing transport test protocols” published in Packaging Technology and Science through the VU Research Repository.

Further research on this topic is being carried out by measuring the rate of deterioration (variations in natural frequency, stiffness and damping) of Regular Slotted Containers (RSC) subjected to random vibrations under load.

This work will lead to a research paper to be published in Packaging Technology and Science.

The team is also working towards the development of improved methods of vehicle vibration response synthesis. Read more in:

• Nonstationary coherence characteristics of dual track road profile data
• Synthesizing dual-track road elevation data.

Image description: Packaging subjected to random vibration testing. Text overlay labels on image read: response accelerometer, pneumatic bearing, excitation accelerometer, guided mass, cushion sample, vibration table.

Various sustainable cushioning materials are being developed and their impact absorbing and compostability characteristics will be evaluated in this research.

This research will lead to a paper revealing the comparative performance of bio-packaging systems.

The work will complement previous research on the evaluation of biodegradable loose-fill packaging: An evaluation of the mechanical performance of extruded wheat starch loose fill.

Image description: Samples of various cushioning materials.

An algorithm for automatically detecting shocks generated by road vehicles is being developed.

Transport Vibration Survey: Multi axis (heave, pitch and roll) vibration data has been (and continues to) be collected from a variety of road transport scenarios. Some characteristics of the heave, pitch and roll vibrations within urban delivery routes

Vibration data is collected with programmable recorders that can record multi-axis data for up to 13 hours. This data will be analysed to further develop statistical models to characterise and predict vibration levels for various transport scenarios (vehicle type, suspension type, payload and road type), see:

• Using the Weibull distribution to characterise road transport vibration levels
• On the parameters that influence road vehicles vibration levels/ Extended abstract (PDF, 323.22 KB)

This information will supplement our extensive Transport Vibration Database and will lead to a research paper that will be aimed at optimising laboratory tests (transport trials) that will lead to a reduction on over-packaging hence less packaging waste.

Image description: A self-contained vibration recorder.