Reinventing coatings for sustainable flexible packaging

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There is an urgent need to produce truly sustainable, recyclable, and biodegradable flexible packaging. Current flexible packaging is made of multilayers of different fossil-based materials to meet key requirements such as excellent moisture barrier, sealability and mechanical properties. The recycling and end-use problems associated with multilayer packaging proves that the only viable solution is its radical redesign-incorporating renewable materials that can drive greater economic and environmental benefits across the whole product value chain. Whilst there are successes in creating flexible packaging materials from sustainable polymers (i.e., bio-based, biodegradable and/or compostable), these novel innovations are still in their research infancy- suffering from poor performance and hampering commercial uptake. The optimisation of sustainable coatings provides potential solutions to improving the overall packaging properties of these alternatives, contributing to the transformation of future packaging manufacturing while driving R&D in advanced materials, engineering science and technology.Project Novelty and Application: - Development and optimisation of new sustainable materials that can aid in replacing components of multilayer flexible packaging, allowing for greater biodegradability and/or recycling of single use flexible packaging.-New disruptive methods, frameworks, guidance on coatings, composites and the coating process that will enhance the sustainable transition of commercial packaging.Aim: To investigate the synergies among coatings for enhanced sustainability within current commercial packaging.Objectives: 1) Evaluate the effect of surface modification on the uniformity, adhesion, interaction and performance of coatings on specific substrates (different grades of paper, PHA, PLA based packaging).2) Determine the efficiency of commercial and biodegradable and composite coatings on packaging key performance indicators (KPIs) such as recyclability, biodegradability, anti-microbial/anti-fungal resistance, water and oxygen barrier, mechanical integrity, sealability, printability and aesthetics. 3) Optimize the coating process for maximum desirability among KPIs using composite coating mixtures.4) Evaluate the economic and environmental impacts associated with multi-functional coatings, including end of life and feedstock supply chain.