Compostable bioplastics for single-use coffee pods

G-PAK Technology Inc.是一家总部位于不列颠哥伦比亚省萨里市的私人持股公司，开发完全基于生物材料的可堆肥**一次性咖啡豆。虽然基于Keurig‘K-Cup’的单杯咖啡豆在过去十年里大受欢迎，但由此产生的不可生物降解的塑料垃圾**已经令人震惊。目前全球每年售出超过90亿个聚苯杯**，如果首尾相连，足够绕地球11圈。此外，咖啡豆需要500多年的时间才能在土壤中分解，造成了巨大的环境负担，而且还在继续增长(在**加拿大，五分之一的家庭现在报告拥有一台单一服务的Keurig机器)。G-PAK试图通过开发使用后完全可堆肥的咖啡豆来解决**这个问题。**不幸的是，与商业聚苯乙烯相比，G-PAK使用的普通生物塑料的氧气渗透率**更高，从而缩短了以这种方式储存的咖啡的货架期。通过与不列颠哥伦比亚大学Zachary Hudson教授的实验室合作，G-PAK打算开发**完全由具有必要氧气渗透性的生物材料制成的可堆肥塑料，以**保持咖啡从经销商到消费者所需的味道。该项目旨在为有环保意识的**消费者创造**适用于食品包装的**环保材料，并潜在地应用于不可回收塑料**目前为行业标准的多种食品包装中。聚合物合成和可持续化学都是**Hudson教授研究计划的关键方面，他的专业知识将补充G-PAK团队在生物塑料方面的经验。

G-PAK Technology Inc. ('G-PAK') is a privately held company based in Surrey, BC that develops compostable**single-use coffee pods based on entirely bio-based materials. While single-serve coffee pods based on the**Keurig 'K-Cup' have exploded in popularity in the last decade, the resulting non-biodegradable plastic waste**generated from this industry has been staggering. Over 9 billion polystyrene cups are currently sold worldwide**every year, enough to circle the globe 11 times if placed end-to end. Furthermore, coffee pods take more than**500 years to break down in soil, creating an enormous environmental burden which continues to grow (in**Canada, one in five households now report owning a single-serve Keurig machine). G-PAK seeks to address**this problem through the development of coffee pods which are fully compostable after being used.**Unfortunately, common bioplastics such as those used by G-PAK suffer from increased oxygen permeability**relative to commercial polystyrene, reducing the shelf-life of the coffee stored in this way. By partnering with**Prof. Zachary Hudson's laboratory at the University of British Columbia, G-PAK intends to develop**compostable plastics sourced from entirely bio-based materials with the necessary oxygen permeability to**maintain the required flavour of the coffee from the distributor to the consumer. This project aims to create**environmentally friendly materials suitable for use in food packaging for the environmentally-conscious**consumer, with potential applications in many kinds of food packaging where non-recyclable plastics are**currently the industry standard. Both polymer synthesis and sustainable chemistry are key aspects of Prof.**Hudson's research program, and his expertise will complement the experience in bioplastics of G-PAK's team.