Packaging

Plastic wraps and food containers generate huge amounts of waste. Now researchers at Harvard and Rutgers have developed a new plant-based, antimicrobial coating that can be sprayed onto food to keep it fresh, and easily washed off before consumption.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a problematic material, in that it's cheap and lightweight but also non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle. German scientists have developed a possible alternative, though – foam made out of popcorn.

The Coca-Cola Company has announced it will be trialing a paper bottle prototype in a limited run of 2,000 later this year. The test sales of the plant-based beverage AdeZ will be conducted in Hungary through the e-grocery retailer Kifli.hu.

​According to its "best before" label, that steak you bought hasn't expired yet … but is it really safe to eat? Well, thanks to research being conducted at Canada's McMaster University, the food packaging itself may soon definitively let you know the answer.

Plastic cling wrap sure is better than nothing when it comes to keeping food fresh, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. Scientists have now developed a new material promised to offer greater protection by applying the brakes to bacteria growth and over-ripening.

A process developed some 15 years ago by researchers at the University of Cambridge to recover the metals contained in the increasingly-popular plastic-aluminum laminate (PAL) packaging, is now being demonstrated in a full commercial-scale plant.

A new Kickstarter aims to make deodorant more environmentally friendly by cutting back on plastic packaging. By replacing the disposable stick with a reusable dispenser, ClickStick's designers claim plastic waste is cut by 90 percent. But is the good work undone by overcomplicating a simple product?

Aiming to open its doors this (northern) summer, Original Unverpackt is set to become Germany's first waste-free supermarket. Customers bring containers to take the produce away, borrow reusable containers from the store or use bags made from recycled paper.

Are you sure that the chicken you just bought has been kept cool from the time it left the plant to the moment you stuck it in your shopping cart? Well, you could be if it had one of Thinfilm Electronics' Smart Sensor Labels on the packaging.

A graduate student from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a way of creating a bio-foam from paper mill waste, radically reducing waste from paper production and creating two products that are highly valuable and in demand.

Scientists have created a plastic food packaging film that changes color in the presence of decaying meat or fish.

A "nano-brick" coating developed for food wrap should help foods last considerably longer by sealing out oxygen.