Agroaldea
The LIFE + WHEYPACK project will demonstrate that it is possible to develop plastic containers for dairy products 100% biodegradable and economically viable, from whey derived from cheese production.
Production of one ton of cheese a surplus of about nine tons of whey is obtained. sustainable innovative initiatives against alimentLa waste research, which it has the support of the European Union LIFE program, It is led by AINIA TECHNOLOGY CENTER (Spain), participating as project partners, AIMPLAS (Spain), CENTRAL QUESERA MONTESINOS (Spain) and EMBALNOR (Portugal).
The process of cheesemaking average generates, production of one ton of cheese, nine tons of whey. In Europe alone is estimated to occur annually 75 million tons of whey from cheese makers. Although part of this product again returns to the food chain for performing other dairy products, near to 40% whey is disposed of as waste and managed in the food industries.
[quote]Excess serum becomes more sustainable solution for plastic containers.[/quote]
The European project LIFE + WHEYPACK proposed as main objective to demonstrate that new packaging can be manufactured dairy products with materials 100% biodegradable, allowing a lower environmental impact and reduce the carbon footprint of traditional plastic containers, from non-renewable resources like oil, using surplus serum to generate the new packaging material.
In particular, synthesized material for the manufacture of these new packaging will polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) which you are obtained after fermentation of microorganisms from whey.
The large amount of surplus whey generated by the dairy industry causes this product becomes a problem of wasted food sector companies. With this project, the generator of the waste itself could make a profit, giving a new value to this product to make, through a process controlled bioproduction, in a new cheese packaging material, environmentally sustainable, economically viable and meet security features, sensory quality, useful life…. own dairy products.