Codipac - a hygienic, reusable packaging solution designed to replace disposable plastics in grocery supplies.

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It is challenging to apply the waste hierarchy of _reduce, reuse, recycle_ to food packaging. Reduction would lead to shorter shelf life and greater food waste, with worse impact than the reduction in packaging. 46.2% of food packaging is currently recycled, with the remainder incinerated, buried in landfill or exported with unknown fate. Virtually no food packaging is re-used, due to concerns around hygiene. Re-used packaging requires sterilisation between users to be acceptable to consumers. The environmental impact of high temperature washing or chemical sterilisation means it is not beneficial to re-use food packaging.CodiKoat have developed novel antimicrobial technology called Cydal. This can be applied as a surface coating to many materials and kills viruses or bacteria. We have already shown that materials treated with Cydal are safe for humans to handle. In this project, we will develop new food packaging materials that contain Cydal. We will design containers suitable for use in grocery delivery. We will work with supermarkets and consumers to see how we could replace current food packaging with our re-usable alternative. We will determine how much washing is needed between users to prevent bacteria or viruses being passed between users. We will also determine how many times packaging can be used safely and design a system to indicate when it needs replacing. We will also calculate how much better for the environment our new food packaging could be. We have strong interest from two supermarkets to use our technology once we have completed this project.