The packaging is a tool that protects and contains our goods and it should, first of all, provide convenience for the consumer, facilitate storage, increase self-life, protect the environment and be compatible with consumer trends.To date packaging materials have been to a large extent based on non-biodegradable materials, they consist a variety of petroleum-derived plastic polymers, metal and glass. The only widely used biodegradable packaging materials is paper and board (which are based on cellulose, the most abundant and renewable polymer worldwide). These materials and polymers are used in various combinations to prepare materials with unique properties that efficiently ensure the safety and quality of products through handling and storage to consumer use.
a)Petroleum derivatives (plastic caps and bottles, polyethylene packages-bags for food and garment packaging, films for wrapping purposes, shrink films for multiple items packaging, PVC –polyvinyl chloride-packages such as films/tubing for wrapping consumer items).
Plastics tend to be lighter in weight, they augment shelf life and they are nontoxic.
Furthermore, they improve safety and convenience for the consumer as being unbreakable and easy to hold.
On the other point of view plastic packages can t tolerate high temperatures, they also increase waste.Plastics do not dissolve so they are a major contributor to environmental pollution.
b)Metal (tin plates and cans), can withstand high temperatures and they present high storage convenience as well as long self-life, moreover, they are easy to use and unbreakable.
On the contrary, cans are found to be difficult to open, they are not reclosable and their content is neither fresh nor healthy(too many preservatives). Furthermore, tin plates and can have no modern image to the consumer their shape and design is not original.
c)Glass (for refreshments and edible oils)has a long self-life it is also refillable which reduces costs. It was commonly used before plastic polymers come into use. They are considered as storage inconvenient due to their high breakability, their content as well isn’t fresh and they create much waste (unless they are recycled).Glass is quite expensive to produce too comparing to other packaging materials.
d)Paper containers (carton boxes, paper carrier bags, paper board boxes, and pulp molds out of newsprint and corrugated paper).Paper containers have replaced glass containers in the food industry. They efficiently ensure storage convenience and ease to use their content, they are also nontoxic as well as unbreakable. Paper containers are the most abundantly used biodegradable packaging materials, they are preferred by the packaging industry because they are low cost and light-weighted. Carton boxes can get original shapes and designs which makes them more appealing to the consumer. The paper though as well as most biodegradable packaging materials can be found ineffective and insensitive to atmospheric conditions like humidity and extreme temperatures and they could deteriorate the quality of the product they contain.
Many products require specific conditions to sustain their freshness(food industry)and overall quality during storage until they reach the final consumer. The packaging industry, trying to satisfy the need of consumers for safe and quality products and by considering the costs of production has came up with all the current used packaging materials. Consumer trends and preferences are equally considered before deciding what to produce.
On the contrary, existing legislation deters producers of using packaging materials which may impair product overall quality and are low cost.Furthermore, technology breakthroughs are very important. Glass an inadequate, from many aspects, packaging material is replaced nowadays (with few exceptions)with aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Technology, can reduce the costs of production and satisfy consumers’ needs.
Biodegradable materials as packaging are interesting from a sustainable point of view. They are low cost, easy to manufacture as well as environment-friendly. The demand for biodegradable packaging materials is increasing rapidly and consumer trends affect overall demand. The growing concern for environmental issues is influencing the choice of packaging materials so manufacturers tend to use more biodegradable materials.
3.The environmental impact of currently used packaging materials Currently, used materials are found related to:
a. Aluminum for incinerations is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect as well as plastic packaging due to its high thermal value. Cardboard and glass represent the least contribution to the greenhouse effect and especially for cardboard contributions are negative due to the recovery of energy contents in the material.
b.Acidification occurs due to waste incineration of PVC(polyvinyl chloride), and the manufacturing of EPS(expanded polystyrene). If these two types of plastic materials are recycled, their contribution to acidification can be reduced by more than 50%. The lowest contributions to this phenomenon come from cardboard and glass.
c.Eutrophication.The major contributions for eutrophication come from HDPE(high density polyethylene),LPDE(low density polyethylene),PS(polystyrene)and PVC(polyvinyl chloride),from EPS(expanded polystyrene),and aluminum.A larger contribution is seen for some of these plastics (PS, PVC)*if the material is recycled than led to the incineration. The lowest contributions come from cardboard and glass.
Aluminum that is not recycled us the major contributor to photochemical ozone formation.
Furthermore, manufacturing of packaging materials causes fossil recource consumption.
The largest consumption of natural gas and crude oil is seen in relation to plastic materials led to incineration after use. The largest consumption of natural gas is seen for EPS*, PS,*LDPE*, HDPE *for incineration.
Cardboard and glass manufacturing makes only minimal use of the 2 resources.
Coal consumptions are highly related to incineration of plastic materials such as HDPE, LDPE, PS, and PET* as well as cardboard.
Finally, packaging materials are found responsible for polluting the environment. Some materials can t get recycled which leads to the concentration of waste.Earth and water supplies can get contaminated which may be threatening every species living on our planet.
4.Alternative packaging materials pros and cons
Major efforts are under way to identify alternative nonfood uses of agricultural crops for the production of packaging materials based on polymers from agricultural sources.Such alternative biobased packaging materials like starch have started reaching the market only recently.
Starch, which is the polysaccharide of cereals, legumes, and tumbers is a biodegradable and widely available raw material suitable for a variety of industrial uses. As a packaging material, starch alone doesn’t have the appropriate mechanical properties (high % elongation, tensile and flexural strength ), unless it is blended with other materials or if it is chemically modified.It is cheaper than plastic alternatives and has been used in several methods for preparing plastics.Overcoming the inadequacy of starch to overcome of starch to show adequate elongation and flexural strength while achieving full biodegradability in blends can be accomplished by the addition of biodegradable plasticizers such as glycerol.
Halogens Packaging Steel in cooperation with Stork Food and Dairy Systems last year introduced a new flexible food can named Le Care. It is introduced to enhance the quality and the image of canned food and to improve the economics of cans in the steel packaging area. The new can is flexible and it has a thinner body of 0.12mm, it provides added convenience and its square shape offers very good decoration opportunities. Furthermore, it saves 20%in space and allows a weight reduction of 15%compared to current cans.
Import and PPG (Australia) developed a coated PET bottle with a shelf-life at least 20 weeks.The coating provides barrier properties to gas, prevents the absorption of foreign substances during the life cycle of the bottle.
They are oxygen absorbers aiming at preventing oxidation of oils and fat discoloration which may lead to loss of flavor.Moreover, they prevent the loss of nutritional components if they are used for food packaging.
They communicate with their environment through color-changing indicators or electronic tags.They have indicators that monitor storage conditions (time-temperature), the integrity of the package(leakage indicators)or microbiological quality and they can have physical reactions as well.
The barrier properties (gases, humidity, light)of the packaging materials are vital for the quality and self-life of many retailed and wholesaled products. Many of the materials based on biodegradable sources exhibit good barrier properties towards oxygen and carbon dioxide ,however moisture barrier properties of several of the biobased material products must be improved in order for them to compete with synthetic packaging materials. Furthermore, other alternatives such as Intelligent Packages and Active Packages are very expensive to produce and they are depended on the pace of developments of material sciences, electronics, and biotechnology. They have also low tolerance to high temperatures.From a socio-economic point of view, biodegradable packaging materials are the most in fulfilling consumers’ needs, they are the least costly and they have minor negative impacts on the environment. Refillable Reusable Materials are also the environment and cost-friendly.
Hopefully, the growing concern of consumers for product safety and quality will support the usage of biodegradable packaging materials as well as new developments.
Bibliography:
Chandra,R.and Rustig ,R.(1998) “Biodegradable Polymers”
Johansson Publishing Minessota
Coombs , J.and Hall,K. “Non-Food Agro and Industrial Research Information”
C.P.L Publishing Services,Newbury U.K (2000)
European Comission.P G 12 ,D 6 Luxembourg.Office for official publications of the European Union, Belgium (I S B N 92-828-6116-3)
Hurme ,E. “Active and Smart Packaging”(2000)
Morgans Publishing U.K
Mangans,C. “The Green Chemical and Polymers Chain”(1998)
C.P.L Publishing Services ,Newbury U.K
Databases used :
www.google.gr
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more