Takeout containers are essential for getting food from restaurants to our tables without a mess, but most are hard to recycle because they contain plastic.
Many food containers are made with a mix of plastic and aluminum, which keeps the food fresh and protected from moisture and light.
However, this combination makes recycling nearly impossible, leaving consumers wanting eco-friendly options.
A recent study published in ACS Omega suggests that a paper-aluminum combination could provide a more sustainable solution without losing the qualities of plastic.
In this research, scientists designed and tested several paper-aluminum laminates to see if they could work as well as plastic-aluminum for packaging.
This new material could keep food safe while being more environmentally friendly.
The team, led by Hamed Zarei, developed two types of paper-aluminum laminates and compared them to regular plastic-aluminum packaging to measure their strength and durability.
Here’s how they tested the new designs:
- The Machine-Direction (MD) Laminate: This laminate uses aluminum and paper where the paper fibers run in the same direction as the machine’s force. Think of it like aligning the grain of the paper with the stretch direction, which makes the laminate stronger in that direction.
- The Cross-Direction (CD) Laminate: In this version, the paper fibers run against the direction of the force, which changes how the material reacts to being stretched.
In the lab, they stretched each type of laminate to see how much force it could handle before breaking.
Not surprisingly, the plastic-aluminum material was the most stretchable. Between the paper-aluminum types, the MD laminate was more flexible but developed cracks along the grain faster, while the CD laminate didn’t stretch as far but showed fewer cracks.
To further understand how these laminates would perform in real-life packaging, the researchers used computer simulations.
Their model used the data from their lab tests to predict how each type of laminate would respond under various conditions.
The findings suggested that an aluminum layer combined with a mix of MD and CD paper fibers would create a material nearly as strong as plastic-aluminum but more sustainable.
Although the MD/CD paper-aluminum combination hasn’t been produced in the lab yet, this study gives packaging engineers a blueprint to create sustainable, high-performance materials.
If developed, this type of laminate could be a strong alternative to traditional plastic-based packaging, meeting both the durability needs of food packaging and the growing consumer demand for eco-friendly options.
This innovation could help reduce plastic waste in packaging, making it easier to recycle and potentially decomposable, marking a step forward in sustainable packaging solutions.
As researchers continue developing this mixed paper-aluminum laminate, we could soon see greener takeout containers that are as functional as they are earth-friendly.
Source: American Chemical Society.
