Development of a sustainable biopolymer for extrusion and injection moulding manufacturing

英国家庭每年丢弃约1000亿件塑料包装[Statista 2023]。其中很大一部分是由美容和个人护理消费品包装组成的，这为报废塑料包装带来了巨大的废物管理问题。化妆品和个人护理品牌以及包装制造商越来越有责任考虑通过EPR计划和最近引入的塑料包装税进行报废处理。迫切需要塑料替代品作为包装解决方案，避免PPT，在报废时可堆肥，并且与复合油完全相容和稳定。FlexSea正在开发新的生物材料，使用红海藻的水胶体提取物作为可持续包装解决方案的生物基原料。在此次合作中，我们将与化妆品和个人护理专用化学品领域的主要参与者2 M合作，通过提高化妆品配方的水油阻隔性能，提升这种新型生物聚合物在化妆品罐中的性能。工业加工方法（挤出和注塑）将与WMG合作进行评估，利用他们在使用可持续材料的先进制造方面的专业知识，了解加工对生物材料性能的影响，并确定最终扩大生产的要求。项目演示将验证生物材料的稳健性-成功的项目成果将通过提供一种全新的海藻生物塑料作为令人兴奋的生物基可持续包装解决方案，满足化妆品和个人护理行业的迫切需求。

UK households throw away ~100Bn items of plastic packaging/year\[Statista 2023\]. A significant proportion of this is made up of beauty and personal care consumer packaging, presenting an enormous waste management problem for end-of-life plastic packaging. The onus is increasingly on cosmetic and personal care brands and packaging manufacturers to consider end-of-life disposal through EPR schemes and the recent introduction of the Plastics Packaging Tax.There is an urgent need for plastic-alternatives as a packaging solution that avoid PPT, are compostable at end-of-life, and are fully compatible and stable with complex oil/water based cosmetic formulations.FlexSea are developing novel biomaterials using hydrocolloid extracts from red seaweeds as a bio-based feedstock for sustainable packaging solutions. Working with 2M, a key player in the cosmetic and personal care speciality chemical sector, in this collaboration we will advance the properties of this novel biopolymer for use in a cosmetic pot by enhancing the water-oil barrier performance for use with cosmetic formulations.Industrial processing methods (extrusion and injection moulding) will be assessed in collaboration with WMG, drawing on their expertise in advanced manufacturing using sustainable materials to understand processing impact on the biomaterial properties and determine requirements for eventual scale-up production.Project demonstrations will validate the robustness of a biomaterial-based prototype cosmetic pot on a pilot packaging line showcasing suitability for use as a packaging solution.Successful project outcomes will address an urgent need for the cosmetics and personal care sector by providing a completely novel seaweed-derived bioplastic as an exciting biobased sustainable packaging solution.